Zelle: Reborn
by Draken NullVoid
Summary: Meet Jackson Zelle. Computer Engineering major, and your friendly neighborhood IT support man. Oh, did I mention he died and is now being reborn as a hunter? Yeah, well that sucks. But he's going to make the best of what he can get utilizing all of his knowledge and lack of skills to become the best hunter he can be. M for later chapters and language. OC-Insert
1. Decisions

**A/N: Hello everyone! Just a quick author's note to get things started off. First thing to note is that this will be my first story. So with that, there will be the obvious grammar errors and the like so do be mindful of that when reading. Secondly, this will be rated for two reasons. One, there will be some dark content including gore, blood, and foul language. Two, there might be lemons? We will see. Without further ado, enjoy!**

Chapter 1

Decisions

"Ugh, where am I?" My voice resonated throughout a room of sort. I was lying down on something cold, flat and smooth. Slowly getting a feel for my body, I began to lethargically move my body. Fingers, check. Toes, check. Head, check. Arms, check. Legs… Legs? Well that is a thing apparently. Finally having enough of having no function of my legs I open my eyes to figure out why the hell my legs aren't working. However, imagine my surprise when I'm met with blackness, just sheer dark terrifying blackness. Now let it not be said that I am not afraid of the dark. It is my belief that everyone, has some inkling fear of the dark. It is unknown and terrifying. Though I suppose I should do a brief introduction before I continue my story.

My name is Jackson Zelle. Though most people refer to me as Zel or Jack. I am a twenty-one year old college student studying Computer Engineering. I had just recently finished my third semester while working a job as a computer technician on the campus I was attending. It was easy and very fulfilling life really. Just another year until I was done. Then I died... wait what?

Going back through my memories I realize that yes, I did in fact die. As I was walking back home from my shift at work, a man had attempted to rob me, telling the person I had no cash. Which was true since I'm a college student and have to make tons of payments to get by. However after some more threatening from the man I hand him my wallet. Then I heard a scream followed by a gunshot. The last thing I remember was feeling the blood leave my body as sirens echoed in the background.

That means this must be purgatory or some nonsense like that? I was never very religious, so this would make the most sense, I suppose. "Hello, anyone out there?" I called into the thick darkness. Seriously, wherever I was, it decided to use possibly my worst fear against me. On that thought, maybe this was hell? To be surrounded by eternal darkness and silence for all eternity. Before I could continue my pondering a loud ding resounded throughout the quiet and a blue box, with white text appeared in front of my face.

 **[Congratulations, you have been selected as the next gamer, do you wish to accept?]**

 **[Yes]**

 **[No]**

This gave me a pause. This box appears and tells me I'm not a gamer? Bitch, I'm already a gamer. I've probably got more hours on League of Legends than this box has got pop-up menus. Feeling spiteful, I click **[No]**.

 **[Are you sure?]**

 **[Yes]**

 **[No]**

Pondering on what would happen if I pressed **[No]** again, I tap it only for the original screen to pop up. Smiling, I realize I could amuse myself with this for some time, or at least until feeling returned to my legs. So with that in mind I began my merry pressing of the blue box, feeling satisfied with every ding.

I must've pressed it at least 30 times before a bright red screen with black text appears that simply said, **[STOP]** , accompanied by a loud blare **.** If I had been standing I probably would've fallen over, though seeing as I was on the ground, I did the next best thing. I flailed around and totally didn't scream. Though shortly after my not scream, it turned back into the now familiar blue screen taunting about my lack of gaming prowess. Feeling intimidated by the glowing screen in front of me I quickly press **[No]** followed by a **[Yes]** when it prompted me for my assuredness. What came next was amusing.

 **[The Gamer has denied Gamer start. Protocol dictates I reluctantly offer you a new start option. Which start would you like to take?]**

 **[Adventurer]**

 **[Hunter]**

 **[Merchant]**

 **[Wayfarer]**

 **[None of the Above]**

Feeling a bit insulted at the box for telling me that I denied my own "start," whatever the hell that means, I attempted to press the 'None of the Above' button. So what if I'm acting like a five year old? I am vindictive damn it. Though to my surprise there was a sound, resembling an error when you tried to click something on the internet. After a pause, I tried it again. Receiving the same result. "Well, shit." I say aloud. "Look at you Mr. Box, forcing me to make a decision that I have no idea in how it affects me whatsoever, good for you." I continue on sarcastically.

 **[Help: The Gamer Rebirth Program allows people from System 87 to be reborn into a new life at a random age between the ages of 0-18. There the person will have abilities and will grow in a similar manner as that of a game. However players shall not be forced into the gamer position and instead may choose their start, however once the Program has been initiated, then a start must be chosen.]**

"Oh." Was all I was able to say. I just had the chance to become a real life gamer, complete with whatever the hell it gave me, and I just past it up. I reacted appropriately. I began smashing my head against the ground though it didn't feel very hard and didn't quite cause the pain I was looking for to try and rid myself for my oversight. "Ok, so you react to voice commands then. What do my options entail?" I decide to ask.

 **[Unknown command given]**

Of course. Things were never easy. So, I'm stuck with 4 options going into apparently a new life. Adventurer, Hunter, Merchant, and Wayfarer. By the way these options sound, I might be going to a fantasy world, because I highly doubt Adventurers and Wayfarers exist on earth. Though this is just a ball park guess. For all I know it could throw me into space. I'm not exactly sure of the capabilities of this "Rebirth Program." Well typically when I play games I go with the merchant option, simply because you can build up lots of loot and sell it with high charisma scores, however I feel like that won't work quite the same since I've already denied the gamer option. So being a merchant is out. Wayfarer just sounds lame. That leaves me with 2 choices. Thinking on it, I really couldn't go wrong with either of them, so I did what any indecisive 21 year old would do.

"Hey, window thing. Do you have a coin?" I ask.

 **[I am equipped with money from virtually everywhere]**

Now it's responding, lovely. "Can you flip a coin for me and if it's heads I'll be an adventurer, tails a hunter." I respond.

 **[… You are leaving the fate of your new life in the hands of a coin flip. User, I recommend you reconsider your choice.]**

Is. Is this window getting snarky with me? Holy shit, this is some high level shit right there. However, I decided to go ahead and let it know that I'm serious. "Yeah, you won't tell me the details so just do it." I would've created Shia Lebouf's, just do it movements, but I felt that laying on my back while trying to do it was just inappropriate.

 **[As you wish user]**

 **[Processing coin flip…]**

 **[Tails]**

 **[User has chosen the Hunter start]**

 **[As a Hunter, the user has unlocked their ability to use an Aura and Semblance, the amount of Aura is dependent on the strength of the users Will going into rebirth and the Semblance can be decided before entering. Would you like to choose your Semblance now? If you choose no, you may choose it within one week]**

 **[Yes]**

 **[No]**

Aura and Semblance? Those words seem somewhat familiar? Where have I heard those from? After pondering for a few minutes and drawing up blanks I quickly dismiss my thoughts. Might as well ask. "Can you tell me what Aura and Semblance are." I ask. Shortly after two screens appear displaying my desired information.

 **[Aura is the culmination of one's soul. It is used to enhance a human beings capabilities far beyond normal. It protects from physical attacks, allows for faster healing, and can be used to enhance one's strength and dexterity.]**

 **[A semblance is the manifestation of one's Aura. This projection allows for an ability unique to the user. An example is an elemental manipulation semblance. Where a user is able to manipulate a very specific element to their needs as well as being near immune to effects from their own element.]**

Well that is actually very helpful. Now I'm pondering this, while elemental manipulation seems like the most amazing thing ever since sliced bread, it seems like this system expected him to choose it by giving him this example. So, now thinking. What is the most generic super power in existence? With that in mind I had my decision.

 **A/N: No, this is not a gamer fic. To explain why he was being dumb, he was not taking anything seriously. If something was just like, hey, you died and are being reincarnated, I would think that I was having some weird dream and would most likely attempt to fuck with it. As we see above. So please don't hate too much on this matter.**


	2. Lost

**A/N: Hello everyone! So I have some bad news bears to let you all know of. I'm not one hundred percent caught up with RWBY. Yes, yes I know. I should be hung and beaten for attempting to write a fanfiction without being 100% caught up, BUT I ASSURE YOU that by the next chapter I should be caught up with the series. Without further ado, let the chapter begin.**

"Attack!" – Normal Speech

" _That was pleasant." –_ Thoughts

Chapter 2

Lost

Zelle awoke with a groan to the soft ground I was laying on. Birds were chirping, leaves were rustling. All was well with the world. It wasn't going to last though. With a jolt, Zelle sat up and opened his eyes to the view around him.

 _Ok,_ Zelle thought. _I'm not dead, and am not surrounded by pitch blackness, so that's good._ Already two positives in his book. He also had feeling back in his legs, so make that three. Glancing around he realized he was in a forest or at the very least, a wooded area of some kind. Also he was only wearing cargo shorts. Apparently being reborn doesn't allow shirts, socks, or undergarments to transfer. Second thing he noticed was he felt lighter more powerful than he had ever felt back in his previous life. Man, his new semblance was going to be so much fun. He already had a few ideas on how to utilize it and make it better, but that can wait until he can find civilization. He was giddy with all the things he can do with this new semblance.

*Flashback*

"I want a strength semblance," I tell the blue window in front of me.

 **[Processing Request…]**

 **[Accepted, Semblance is Strength]**

 **[By pouring your aura into your semblance you can augment your strength, this is the desired Semblance, correct?]**

 **[Yes]**

 **[No]**

Quickly pressing yes, another series of blue window begins floating in front of me.

 **[All processes complete.]**

 **[Enjoy your new life in Remnant.]**

*End Flashback*

Now he was here, sitting here in this wooded area, pondering how to go about doing things. Probably heading in a random direction was not the ideal decision to make here, seeing as that would probably just end up with him being lost. Glancing around, Zelle began making his way towards a particularly tall tree. Reaching up he grabbed the nearest branch with one hand he easily pulled himself up. With a slight chuckle, he found it humorous just how easy it was. His semblance must be a passive thing, as he was one hundred percent certain that there was no way in hell he would've been able to do something like this previously. Collecting himself, Zelle continued up the tree till he could see the very top, making sure not to overstrain the smaller branches. Looking around, he was in fact in some sort of forest. If the miles and miles of tree tops were anything to go by. Searching around he thought he saw something move across the ground a few mile out, by his rough estimate. He was never a camper or Boy Scout. He'd much rather be inside playing video games or playing tabletops. Either that or programming something. So with his destination in mind Zelle began to climb down, only for the branch he stepped down on to snap causing him to crash through the trees below.

"Ugh. Shit. Fuck." Were some of the words Zelle yelled out as he slammed his back into the ground. Groaning, he picked himself back up. _"Weird_ ," he thought. _"It appears that I've taken no actual physical damage and the short burst of pain from falling is already gone."_ Sure enough, his fall from the tree had not left a mark on him, only with his back now being dirty again from lying on the ground. Now standing, Zelle began his trek towards his destination.

Like God had a vendetta against him. Zelle realized only about an hour of walking that the person could've easily have been in a different direction. He growled slightly. Seriously, whoever invented the idea of forethought was going to get a Semblance enhanced backhand from him. Having nothing better to do Zelle continued his trek.

A few hours passed, and surprisingly or unsurprisingly Zelle was starting to wear down. _"Man, I thought that this aura stuff would be able to increase my endurance much greater than what it was, though I am tired and thirsty. That could be the issue here."_

All right that was his new goal, find water before he died from dehydration. Finding another suitable tree to climb, Zelle was about to go up it when all of a sudden he heard a feral growl from behind. Turning around very slowly, he saw this THING staring at him. Its body was black as night. It stood on all fours looking ready to pounce. Along its body, it had what appeared to be bone. Then there was its face. It had what almost reminded Zelle of a mask made of that bone material with red markings on it. Finally were the piercing glowing orange eyes as it peered at him from behind it's mask. Its body reminded him of a wolf, a really, really, large wolf.

Turning around slowly, Zelle said, "Hey there big guy. What are you doing out here all on your lonesome?" He took a cautious step forward, only for the wolf like thing to growl at him. Zelle put up his hands, "Hey now, I'm not gonna harm you, ya massive thing you. I'm just going to come over and pet you. Is that ok?" Zelle was keeping his voice light and soft. He was intimidated by this thing, sure. But he didn't see any others with it and it hadn't attacked him yet, so he was going to try and get out of this without this thing trying to maul him. Taking another cautious step forward, the thing didn't react this time. A few more steps and Zelle was now only 10 feet from this creature.

That's when Zelle noticed something. There were cuts in the bone as well as a crack in the mask this thing was wearing. Then he noticed that it was putting all its weight on its back left leg, as if its leg had been damaged. The thing had its teeth bared at him when Zelle finally realized something. This thing was not a threat, HE was. Now to be fair to Zelle, he did not know of the Grimm or the world he was in. He was not aware of the threat that these monstrosities posed to humanity and their very existence. In his eyes all he saw was a very intimidating wild animal that was injured and trying to intimidate a potential enemy. With his mind made up Zelle quickly dashed the last ten feet only for the thing to swipe at him with its bone like claws.

Go figure, Zelle mentally face palmed himself. Seeing a potential enemy dashing at you while injured would of course cause provocation. Zelle quickly hit the deck and avoided the slashing claw. Out of the corner of the eye, he noted that its other claw was descending upon him. Rolling out of the way, his eyes widened at what he saw. Those claws which were just about eight inches in length had dug all the way through the dirt. While dirt wasn't the strongest substance, it was compact due to movement and the trees keeping the dirt in place around him. If those claws were to hit him he would most certainly be dead. Though he completely forgot that his aura would be able to protect him from incoming attacks, maybe.

Zelle dodged another swipe from the creature ducking under it. Then he tackled it. Knocking it to the ground with a hard thunk. The fur, if you could call it that was surprisingly very smooth. Unconsciously, he used his semblance to keep its arms pinned as its one good leg began to try and thrash him off. Zelle wasn't going to have any of that. Drawing his head back he head-butted the creatures throat. It made a sound that reminded Zelle of a deflating balloon before it slowly stopped moving. Zelle got off the creature before he realized something _"Holy shit, I didn't just kill this injured creature did I?"_ He thought with alarm. He tried checking for a heartbeat, but didn't find anything.

" _Shit, shit! Great job, now what do I do? I could try burying it, yeah. But I've never seen this beast before so maybe it has one of those super quiet heartbeats that are near impossible to detect or its hide is super thick. I'd be burying the thing alive!" Maybe I should take it with me and see if I can get it fixed up."_ With his mind made up, Zelle picked up the Beowulf and began awkwardly carrying the thing as he continued off in a random direction

As luck would have it after a couple hours, Zelle managed to find a river or stream. Also Ryo didn't wake up so that was a good thing. Yes, he named the thing. It was getting rather tiring to keep calling Ryo a thing and creature. But otherwise he'd rather not get shish kabobbed by those claws. After taking a drink, Zelle idly noted that the water tasted much cleaner than it did back home. Now to stave off any hunger. He'd have to out speed any creature. On his way here he had seen a herd of deer and the occasional rabbit or squirrel. He wasn't about to try and eat some unknown plant, although a lot of them looked similar.

Zelle has had experience in hunting despite being a shut in. He took a trip once or twice with his father to hunt some deer during hunting season. He also had to help cook it. However, he had a gun then. Now all he had was some rocks, his feet, and enhanced strength. Quickly finding the deer tracks, he began to stealthily make his way tracking the herd. After about thirty minutes he found them. Noticing one particularly big deer. He discreetly pulled out a rock from his pocket. Palming it, he chucked that son of a bitch as hard as he could. The deer quickly began to scatter but his aim was true. The rock struck the deer's head and it crumpled. Zelle quickly let out a triumphant whoop as he went to collect his prize. Grabbing the deer and hauling it on his shoulder, he began making his trek back toward the river and Ryo.

It was getting dark as Zelle was preparing the meat. Ryo still hadn't woken up yet and that was worrying him. He managed to get a fire going after about 20 minutes of striking different materials that he could find. The deer was coming along nicely. His mouth watered as he thought about eating this delectable piece of meat. When he heard something move around to his right. Glancing to his right, he noticed that Ryo was finally starting to wake up. Taking a piece of the grilled meat he waited for the glowing orange eyes to move towards him. Ryo growled, baring his teeth. It tried to stand but before it could do so, Zelle quickly kicked him down and threw the piece of meat into its open maw. Ryo stopped resisting and began to quickly devour the food in its mouth. After it finished and swallowed, it looked at Zelle and tilted its head at him. No growl, nothing hostile. This time as Ryo stood up, Zelle allowed it to do so. Ryo moved its face right in front of Zelle's face before taking a long sniff. Zelle was stiff. He was not afraid, but he was definitely cautious. While not strong or experienced with this stuff back home, he had enough base knowledge to try and let this thing acknowledge him as not a threat. Sniffing him again, Ryo got on his haunches, similar to that of a dog sitting and stared at him, that's when something peculiar happened.

The first change that happened were the markings. They changed from that blood red color to a deep forest green. Then the eyes themselves went from that bone chilling orange to a deep ocean blue. Then the biggest change was the fur. It lightened up slightly to that of a very dark grey, instead of the pitch black that it was before.

Now Zelle would be the first to admit that he was not an expert in animal physiology and mannerisms. But he was pretty sure that with the exception of maybe a chameleon, the changes Ryo just went through were not able to be reproduced by anything in his world. But typically animals have a reason for changes they undergo, so what changed now? Zelle sighed. He was too tired for this shit right now. It's late at night, he still hadn't eaten yet and he was starving. He would ponder this more in the morning. With that thought he guided himself back to the campfire, and enjoyed his stew. All the while as Ryo stared at him, head tilted as if he was a curious dog.

With his stew finished, Zelle quickly climbed a tree for some sleep. As much he liked Ryo and was willing to feed him and save him, he wasn't sure if there more things out there like him, and he wasn't about to chance it. Ryo continued to watch him as he made his way up the tree he decided to sleep in. "Hey, Ryo. If you get hungry during the night, there is more deer over there," Zelle called out pointing toward the deer carcass. Ryo looked to where he was pointing, back at Zelle once more before going over to the carcass and munching on it. " _Good, he appears to eat raw meat. That'll save me time from trying to make more food during the night."_ Zelle thought as sleep slowly began to overtake his body. He fell asleep to the sound of meat tearing and the branches pushing into his back.

" _What an interesting first day of being reborn."_

*The Next Day*

Zelle awoke to his back aching, birds happily singing, and the sun rising in the horizon. He stretched to try and remove the kinks in his back from sleeping in a tree, only to forget that he was in fact, sleeping in a tree. Which promptly led to his sound of terrors as he made a short trip to the ground below.

" _Great,"_ He thought. _"It's almost as if trees are trying to tell me to get the hell off of them."_ Seriously falling out of two trees in two days, what were the odds? Considering Zelle had never climbed many trees before to begin with, quite likely. Grunting as he stood up Zelle looked at his surroundings. The campfire had died sometime during the night, and Ryo was nowhere to be seen. Zelle sighed. " _I treat the stupid thing, feed it, and it leaves me during the night."_ With nothing better to do at the moment, he went to the river and grabbed a drink. He splashed some water in his face and looked down at the water and he wondered where the kid had come from. Turning around, he looked behind him seeing no one. Turning back he continued to stare at the water with the young face staring back. Perhaps it was the morning grogginess that made him process his own reflection so slow, or maybe it was due to the more youthful appearance he now held, but it slowly dawned on Zelle who he was staring at.

His face was rounded, with some fat, giving him the look of a child. His eyes were a forest green and his hair was white. It reminded him of his child days, where his hair was so blonde it was basically white. It got darker till it turned brown later on when he hit his teens. He had a small nose, he was pretty sure they called it a button nose? Then he checked his body. He stood about 5' 3" and his arms and legs were decently thin, with almost no noticeable muscle. He didn't have any of his fat that he had in his days before his death it appears. Then he noticed his poor, sad, small hands.

How did he not notice this sooner? It makes sense, when he stopped to think about it. The box told him he would be reborn between the ages of 0-18. So him being what appeared to be about 13-14 wasn't too uncommon. In all honesty, he should count his blessings. At least he wasn't in the body of a toddler. That would've been so awkward. Though downside of this entire thing was he now had a new body he had to learn to maneuver again and the raging hormones. Never forget a teenagers raging hormones. Luckily, he didn't have zits on his face this time around. With those thoughts forcefully removed from his head, Zelle began to decide the next course of action.

He needed to find other people. His survival skills were subpar at best. He gave himself another week at most to survive, before succumbing to hunger or other elements such as creatures like Ryo. However, he wasn't sure of any other water sources around and he NEEDED water. No if, ands, or buts about that. So with that in mind he would head downstream. If he needed too, he could attempt to build a raft. He had built a prototype that held his brother before (no way was he actually going to do that himself. Also Zelle paid him in the end, so no harm done right?). This time, he didn't have the tools necessarily get the materials he needed. There wasn't exactly a Home Depot or Lowes to answer his call for need of supplies.

Making up his mind, Zelle began casually walking downstream. He noted that there were fish down there. Though some of them were black in color. Kind of like how Ryo was before he did his whole metamorphosis thing. Finding nothing better to do he began whistling songs that came to mind, such as Ring of Fire and Radioactive.

This continued on for a few hours, before the need to rest kicked in. Everything was perfectly the same it felt like. Trees stretching on with the river stretching on even further. Seriously, at this rate, he was just going to be vulture food. The thought of food made his stomach growl. Shit, wrong thought to have right now. After resting up for another half an hour, Zelle decided that some more food would be necessarily, but after searching for game unsuccessfully for the next hour, he decided to call it quits. So with a growling stomach, he ventured on.

Night was finally approaching. His legs hurt. His feet hurt worse. His stomach was growling reminding him of his hunger. He had finally run out of songs to go through and had resorted to continually humming the melodies of songs he barely knew. He knew if he were to get quiet, he would start to slowly lose his sanity. Well, whatever was left after being reborn that is. Humans were not meant to be alone. They were social creatures. Perhaps that's why he saved Ryo. He had wanted a companion. Right now, he had no time to dwell on that now. He needed to make camp for the night. He needed to rest and continue on tomorrow. He was too exhausted to look for food. With that in mind, he headed to a tree to climb up and get some sleep. Only to be met with a low growl. With Déjà vu kicking in, Zelle slowly turned around. However instead of there being one pair of glowing orange eyes, there were at least half a dozen.

 **A/N: How was that? Just like I promised this chapter is almost twice as long as the previous one. I think I will try to get the next chapter to around 5000 words. So, just to quell any questions, Zelle will be 17 when he enters Beacon academy, along with the rest of team RWBY, JNPR, etc. I am starting him off early to show him getting introduced to the world of Remnant. Also, he is not aware of the events that occur in RWBY so he isn't going to try and actively "alter the timeline" per say. I will try to have the next chapter out in the next couple weeks. Look forward to that!**


	3. Welcome to Kirya

**A/N: Sadly I haven't gotten any feedback yet (not that surprised by this), so I will just assume I'm doing well enough. Also I am now 100% caught up on season 4 and can't wait for season 5. Luckily I don't feel the need to go back and edit anything from the 2 previous chapters. I've rambled enough. ON WITH THE STORY!**

"Attack!" – Normal Speech

" _That was pleasant." –_ Thoughts

Chapter 3

Welcome to Kirya

Seven pairs of glowing orange eyes stared at Zelle through the brush and night. A shiver traveled up his spine. This wasn't going to end well. These things appeared to be naturally aggressive if his run in with Ryo was any indication. Quickly turning around, Zelle grabbed the branch he initially reached for and hurled himself halfway up the tree. He crashed through a few branches but somehow felt like he didn't take any damage.

Zelle got himself up not a moment too soon as two of the wolf-like creatures had leaped toward his previous position. Scarring the ground and the tree with deep cuts.

" _Shit,"_ Zelle thought. _"I'm in an absolutely terrible position. These things create damage that are the equivalent of large bears and on top of that I'm exhausted from traveling all day. I could attempt to cross the river, but judging by their speed a moment ago, I'll sooner end up as diced meat before I could move the twenty feet to get there."_

As Zelle's thoughts were running rampant, the other wolf creatures were not idle. They began to stalk around the tree. Every so often attempting to latch onto a lower branch only for it to snap under its weight. Zelle eyed this motion carefully. It seemed he was safe for now. Or so he thought.

Right around that time, the last of the wolf creatures began to move forward. It moved slowly, deliberately. It stared up at Zelle, and Zelle decided he didn't like the look that it was giving him. The gaze appeared to be calculating. Thinking. This one wasn't like the others. Then the worse came to happen.

The last wolf thing began to bark and growl at the others and they backed off the tree. Zelle really did not like what was happening. Then, the wolf creature put its paws on the tree and began to shake. The tree trunk began to swing and Zelle hung on for dear life. He needed an escape. He needed one fast.

The shaking got worse as another of the creatures began to join in. Then a third. Zelle could now only hold on for dear life, as he felt his energy deplete by the second. Finally, a fourth joined in and the tree could no longer hold to the strength of these monstrosities and down came the tree. And along with it, its only passenger.

Zelle attempted to jump out of the tree to safety, but failed miserably. He jumped from the trunk only for gravity to continue moving and an especially thick branch collided with his body to make sure he would continue his fall. With a thunk, the tree landed. Hard.

Zelle blacked out for a moment the impact jarring his body. It hurt. Pain shot up his back and legs as he tried to move. He was pinned to the tree. His vision was fuzzy but he could faintly see the creatures sniffing about the fallen plant, looking for him.

He desperately trying to move he attempted to push the tree off him. Only for his left arm to not move. Glancing over, he noted idly that normally, arms aren't supposed to bend that way. Using his good arm, he moved it to the thick branch holding his chest down. He felt his Semblance activate and the branch give way. Only for pain shoot through his entire body and it deactivate. He faintly noted there was liquid coming out of his nose, and his hearing got worse as some type of liquid was running down his head.

Zelle couldn't move. His body was too weak. His body felt something akin to someone tearing his flesh off. His head felt like someone had cracked it open with a rock, and he tasted blood in his mouth. His movement had alerted the wolf creatures to his location. They began to approach him slowly, like a cat with cornered prey. He attempted to laugh only for blood to be coughed up.

He had only lived two days in this new world he had found himself in. Two days and he was about to die again. So pitiful. So pitiful and sad. He wasn't cut out for this. He wasn't a superhero. He was just the tech guy at his college. What did he know about this world. Why was he supposed to care? He guessed it's because it was new and that was intriguing. With his thoughts on his impending doom, Zelle closed his eyes as blackness began to overtake his body. At least the sweet bliss of unconscious would take him before he became the beasts snack.

Zelle awoke to darkness. Pain racked his body and the mother of all headaches was pounding against his skull. He attempted to curse but his mouth was dry like the Sahara Desert. He attempted to get up but realized his legs were refusing to move.

" _Well, doesn't this seem all too familiar. I wonder when the blue box will come tell me I'm an idiot for dying in two days,"_ Zelle thought.

Zelle waited. He waited and waited some more. The pain was becoming unbearable. He tried to call out once more, but to no avail. With that he let the pain induced sleep overcome his being.

Zelle heard distant yells and screams. He's not exactly sure of what but it doesn't seem good. They continue for quite some time before unconsciousness overtakes him once more.

Zelle woke up again. Pain quickly overcomes his body but he stands against it, refusing to let it take him again. He was on something soft. The feeling was much different from the branches he used his first day. It wasn't grass either. Grass had that ticklish feeling as it lightly touched your skin. So that left the question open. Where was he?

Zelle opened his eyes with a great amount of effort. Only to be met with bright searing pain.

"Shit. Fucking sun." Zelle rasped.

That is improvement. He can talk now. This time inching his eyes open, Zelle began to observe his surroundings as his eyes adjusted to the light.

Judging by the amount of light, it might be midafternoon, but the massive headache was making it hard to focus. He was in a building of some sort. As noted that he was on what was most likely a bed, if the desk and wardrobe were anything to go by. Rolling his head right, he was greeted to a door and a stool next to his bed.

Grunting, he attempted to move his arms. The right one moved just fine. The left one not so much. Rolling his head back to his left, with a great amount of pain, he found his left arm in a splint. When did he do that?

Memories began replaying themselves right before he passed out. Oh yeah. He completely dislocated his arm and possibly his shoulder when that tree fell on him. Seriously, fuck gravity.

With his condition confirmed, Zelle did another a look of the room. In front of him was a desk and a wardrobe. A little right of that against the right wall was another door. Possible a closet or bathroom. Continuing to his right was the stool and a very short hallway to another door. To his left was a window around where his stomach lay. He assumed there was a wall directly behind him. Moving that much was beyond his current capabilities.

Pain raked at his body again, Shit, sleep was beginning to edge itself onto him. With one final question on how he was alive, he drifted asleep. He never noticed the mound of dark grey at the foot of the bed.

Zelle awoke to dim light. His body ached a whole lot less thankfully and his motor functions were much better. It probably helped that his headache was not nearly as terrible as when he had awoken the second time. Twisting his head left he was met with a girl sleeping right next to his right arm.

She had short dark brown hair. Maybe it was a pixie cut? He was never very knowledgeable when it came to hair styles. Her build was lithe, thin. Though Zelle could faintly see the undertone of muscle that lay behind that. Her face was soft. It was rounded and she had a surprisingly small nose. Judging by her size and round face, he noted that she may only be a year older than him, whatever his age was. Overall she was quite pretty to look at. His gaze then lingered further right.

There was now a night stand resting next to the girl that hadn't been the when he awoke previously. On it were bottles with writing he could not understand, a bucket and a towel draped over the side. Putting two and two together pretty quickly, Zelle realized that this person was most definetly his caretaker for his extended leave from consciousness. Using his right hand, he poked the girl's cheek.

She stirred but did not wake. Poking her cheek again she shifted, but still refused to wake up. Zelle was never a patient one and with slight annoyance, he flicked her in the forehead. That did the trick. However, he may have forgotten about his semblance. That flick was basically the equivalent of someone open hand smacking you in the forehead. If their hand was made of stone.

The girl's head quickly snapped up and she held her head, hands immediately seeking out the sore spot where she had been flicked. Her eyes watered slightly at the pain she was currently feeling. However, that was quickly all forgotten as the boy she had been caring for was staring at her with mild concern. Before Zelle could say anything, the girl was out the door.

Zelle sat there dumbfounded. What was he supposed to do now? Wait? Considering it hurt to move in any fashion that was probably the best idea. Luckily for him, he didn't have to wait for long.

He heard footsteps approaching the room and in the doorway stood a large burly man. He was tall. Standing about 6' 7". His hair was that dark brown, same as the girl's. He had almond colored eyes and a bushy beard that covered his face. Overall, he made for a very intimidating site.

Zelle didn't quite sure what to make of this man. He knew he wasn't going to be killed. That much he was sure of. But why they had taken him in was beyond him. Hopefully he was going to get some answers here soon. Zelle opened his mouth to say something, and the man walked away.

" _Are you fucking serious right now?!"_ Zelle thought. _"Try to say one thing. Just one! But no. Everyone has to walk away from the half dead man."_ Zelle was not amused. Not in the slightest. So, he decided to holler, and man was that a bad idea.

As Zelle inhaled the air to announce his displeasure, searing pain shot up his arm and chest. His teeth quickly clacked shut as he forced air through his teeth.

" _I haven't hurt this bad since I had to pour alcohol on my head when I bashed my head on some rocks during a vacation."_

Speaking of, he reminded himself to check his head later to find out if scars transferred over to this new body. He highly doubted it, but just to be certain.

His pain must've attracted the attention of the residents of the household, because a woman with a bright red dress appeared. She had light brown hair and bright blue eyes. Her face was rounded and she had a small nose. The dress was tight fitting, accentuating her… assets. Then there was the round, brown, fuzzy ears coming out of the top of her head. All in all, it suited her.

" _Wait, round ears."_ Doing a double take, he again made note of the ears. They reminded him of a cartoon bear ears that he occasionally saw people have on some anime that he had watched with his friend. While Zelle was internally pondering the ears on this woman, she had made it up to his bedside and was wringing a wet cloth of cold water.

Zelle was snapped back to reality as something cold was pressed up to his head. He looked over and saw the woman in the stool with a wash bin and cloths, the man still at the doorway and the little girl behind the door. He used the word little, as the man stood at least two heads taller than the girl.

"Uh, thanks ma'am." Zelle managed to get out despite the pain speaking currently caused. The woman looked shocked at him before glancing at the man, which Zelle assumed was her husband and the girl, the daughter.

"Your very welcome young man." She replied. "You wouldn't mind me a few questions, would you? I understand your probably in quite a bit of pain. You had completely drained your aura. Along with this you had two broken ribs and had damaged your spinal column. You must excuse me for wanting some answers as to what happened to one so young such as yourself."

Zelle pondered her request. It was fair, really.

"Ask away." He replied.

"Well, in that case, let's move to the grimm in the room. Literally in this case." She nodded her head toward the front of the bed.

Zelle raised an eyebrow at her. Many questions running through his head. First and foremost being, what was a grimm? For now, he obliged her and strained his system as he looked to the foot of the bed. There he sees a dark grey furred dog with bone at the shoulders, paws and it's face. The face had dark green markings and bright blue eyes.

"Ryo? Is that you?" Zelle whispered. Here was Ryo, the son of a bitch who he thought had left him was sitting at the foot of his bed looking no larger than a german shepherd. Ryo moved up a bit till his mask was now next to Zelle's hand. The family was watching intently at the interaction. Then Zelle acted.

Zelle reached out and grabbed his snout with his good arm, hard. "Ryooo," Zelle called in a sing song voice. "Where were you when I was about to get mauled by big bad wolves hmmmm?"

Ryo whimpered. "Ah, that's right you ran off. AFTER I SAVED YOU TOO." Ryo growled at Zelle, but Zelle wasn't having any of that. With a quick activation of his semblance, he ignored the pain and gripped even harder. Ryo whimpered again and stopped as he weakly tried to get move away. Zelle hurt, bad. But this was well worth it.

"Hmph, thought so you mutt. Sorry about that ma'am. Taking care of the mutt and all. Now what was this about a grimm?" His attention turned back to the family only to find the husband and wife with their mouths open wide enough to catch all types of insects.

"Um, hello ma'am?" The girl seemed to be unaffected by whatever was afflicting the rest of her family as she shyly gazed at him from behind her father. The mother slowly came back to herself.

"Young man. Do you know what that is?" Zelle glanced at Ryo and Ryo was looking at the woman. "A dog. I think." At this point the pain was starting to get to Zelle and his brain wasn't processing things at 100% efficiency. It was taking all of his energy just to be able to answer.

"Take a look at it. Just a moment longer and think about your awnser." Now Zelle was offended. Who did she think she was telling him he was wrong even if she didn't outright see it. Ryo was clearly a dog. A dog that could apparently shapeshift but a dog nonetheless.

"Ma'am, excuse me for being rude but that is clearly a dog." The woman looked bewildered at his reply.

Amber was having a good day. She had treated the patient upstairs, albeit warily with the grimm sitting right next to the bed watching her every move. She was enjoying her tea when she heard her daughter run and grab her husband and whisk him away upstairs toward the room with the patient. Already making assumptions, she wasn't expecting the young man to be able to move, let alone be able to carry a conversation.

Now she was here, trying to make light of the young man in front of her. He had literally grabbed this grimm by its snout and made it whine. That would be highly amusing if it wasn't for the fact that this was in fact a grimm and not a dog. Who exactly was this boy?

"Young man, are you aware of what grimm are?" Amber asked.

Zelle shook his head.

Amber sighed this would be a long day.

"Well, we can save questions and the like for tomorrow. It is quite clear to me that you are still in pain and it is already dark out so get some rest." With that she left the room, taking her husband and daughter with her.

Zelle decided to make good on her advice and with a quick command to Ryo about not messing things up, he let the Nirvana that is sleep take him.

*The Next Morning*

Zelle woke up the next day feeling better. The pain in his back and stomach area were now just dull aches. His arm was a different matter though. He could barely move it without mind numbing pain firing its way through his system. Deciding to move around he used his right arm to prop himself up against the wall.

Looking down, Ryo was lying there staring at him. Did Ryo ever sleep? Zelle pondered this as well as how he got here in the first place. He was pretty sure those creatures were going to eat him.

Zelle spent an amount of time doing some thinking about recent events when his head turned toward the door opened and the woman from last night entered. She approached the bed and sat in the stool. All the while, eying Ryo carefully.

"She isn't going to bite Mrs." He left that hanging in the air.

"Adel." Was her response.

"Well, Mrs. Adel I remember you said you had some questions for me yesterday?"

"Yes, I do. How much do you remember?"

That threw Zelle for a loop. What did she mean remember? Was she aware of his past life? Zelle panicked. He wasn't sure of the consequences of others knowing about that. But how did she find out?

Oblivious to Zelle's inner turmoil Mrs. Adel continued.

"You appear to have a case of amnesia. When you were brought here you had a large knot on the back of your head. You not knowing about grimm appears to have justified my theory."

" _Oh," Zelle thought. She wasn't aware of the fact that he was from a different world." I might actually be able to use this to my advantage and glean some info on this new world I'm in."_

"I think you might be correct Ma'am. I can only remember back to what I think is a few days ago."

"Well, what is a few days may very well be at least a week, since that is how long you have been here."

That grabbed Zelle's attention. He had been unconscious or at least semi-unconscious for a week now. That was a long ass time. Just goes to show how much damage he really took during that encounter.

"Well in any case, I can't have you wondering around not knowing anything. I'd prefer to have my patients live after they see me."

So thus began the tutoring on the world of Remnant and the creatures known as Grimm.

*One week later*

Zelle had his arm in a sling, bandages across his torso and a smile on his face. He was finally healed enough to be able to move again. Apparently aura sped up healing. Whod've thunk? Though the week in bed let him sort out a lot of things that he talked with Amber about.

He was in a world called Remnant. Here there are bests called grimm. Beings that only brought chaos and destruction wherever they went. You could easily identify a grimm by its markings and mask. If the dark fur wasn't a dead giveaway that is. However, there were defenders against this onslaught of beasts. People called hunters and huntresses.

These people were ones that had their aura unlocked. From what he understood from his interaction with the boxes and Amber, aura was more or less one's soul power. It protected from damage and allowed one superhuman reflexes and strength. Also, these hunters or huntresses got contracts from one of 4 kingdoms. These were Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo, and Vale. Currently he was located in Vale. Specifically a village called Kirya that was near the edge of what was considered "a safe zone."

Each kingdom had an academy. These academies trained hunters and huntresses to fight off grimm. Along with this they all had unique weapons. She didn't really explain but she showed him a picture and got the idea when he saw a guy carrying a broadsword the looked like it had a barrel in the center at the end of the sword while the blade continued up the side a little ways.

Regardless, technically he should be considered a huntsman in training. Seeing as he had his aura and semblance unlocked. That more or less qualified him for huntsman in training status. Though he would have to apply to one of the academies if he ever wanted to become a certified huntsman at some point.

Then there were these people called faunus. Essentially they were people who shared traits with those of animals. For example Amber was apparently a bear faunus. As attributed by her ears. Faunus were typically identified with a specific animal and often had said some traits related to said animal. In Penelope's case it was her ears and abnormal strength for a human without their aura unlocked.

When he questioned about Coco, she had immediately gotten awkward. Confused by this Zelle pressed on, only to ask if he had learned about the birds and the bees. Confused by this Zelle was about to respond to this by, of course, only to realize at the last second that he was in a body that looked to be no older than 15 years old. Zelle said he was aware, so she explained that when a faunus and a human mate. It's about a 50/50 chance that the offspring gets the faunus trait.

Next he learned about this world's currency. It was called Lien. It was close enough to the American dollar system that it didn't take long to figure it out. Though the reason 1000 Lien cards existed was beyond him. Especially when they had bank cards which were essentially credit cards.

Finally and most importantly, at least to him, was the knowledge of dust. Dust apparently fueled everything around here. It powered cars, ran factories, and even was used for ammunition for huntsman. Fire and fuel engines were still a thing, but dust was a much more abundant natural resource to use.

It was the life blood of Remnant. Without dust, humanity may very well be still in a dark age.

Then there was the cracked and destroyed moon. He had asked how it got that way. What he got was a retelling of some old fairy tales that did nothing to sate his curiosity. Technically physics shouldn't allow those pieces to just float there like that. But Zelle wasn't sure if he should be applying his world's physics to this world. After all, things like aura existed.

While he stayed here, Zelle also got to learn about the Adel family. Amber was the village doctor, and her husband Brun was a retired hunter. Their daughter, Coco, was 16 and a huntress in training. She was currently off for summer break, so she was back home. Otherwise she stayed in an apartment with a couple of other girls from this village during school time.

They were all very kind. Brun was a very good cook, much to Zelle's surprise. Coco was quite shy, but he was working on getting her to talk to him. He also learned that literally everyone had names relating to colors. So far he had met Coco, Malt, and Oliver. He didn't bother to question it. His world had too many Smiths, why question names at this point?

Zelle had only another week estimate before he was fully recovered. That was another beneficial thing about having an aura. You recovered much faster than a normal human.

Zelle glanced over at Ryo before scratching him behind the ear. Ryo seemed to be enjoying it. Now that brought Zelle to a completely different issue. Ryo was a grimm. A soulless beast of apparent destruction and death. But here he was sitting with said creature casually scratching it on its head as he watched the sunset.

When he was brought here, apparently Ryo had somehow thrown him on his back and dragged his sorry ass all the way here. He didn't understand how Ryo got him away from those other grimm or the fact he was now dog sized, but Zelle owed Ryo his life so he wasn't going to get rid of him if Ryo chose to hang around. He would deal with the consequences to this as they came around.

"Zelle."

Zelle leaned his head back until the upside down visage of Coco slightly behind the door of the porch he was sitting on came into view. Yes this hurt, but he was relaxing and didn't feel like turning all the way around.

"Mom told me to come get you for dinner."

Sighing, Zelle got up with Ryo following suit. He entered the door and ruffled Coco's hair despite her being a few inches taller than him. She gave him an adorable glare. Glancing back once more at the setting sun, Zelle thought _"maybe this life won't be so bad after all."_

*One Month Later*

Zelle lied to himself. This life sucked. He was currently in a little hut on the outskirts of the village. He owed 2,000 Lien to the Adel family for the treatment they gave him. This was also at discount apparently, with it being half off. Obviously he couldn't pay and had nothing to his name except this shack and a bow and arrow he managed to convince the village elder to give him for free.

He scrapped by though. He fed himself by hunting. Last week he had finally gotten good enough at skinning the animal to actually sell the skins at full price. But every Lien he earned either went to paying his debt off or buying more arrows. He actually had to kill at least the equivalent of a small deer each day or else Ryo would get a bit antsy. An antsy Ryo is not a friendly Ryo.

Fortune was finally smiling upon Zelle though. He was finally debt free, having just paid off the last bits and was able to make his way into this new world. During this time he got to know Coco even better.

She was a design connoisseur. She loved everything fashion. From hats, all the way down to shoes. If it covers the body, then she has an opinion. This was the one subject that Zelle found that got her to break out of her shy shell. She was appalled by his clothing. There wasn't much he could do about it though.

Thus, he was forced to promise her that the first chance he got money, they would go clothes shopping. He shuddered, he dreaded the day that would ever come. He was sure that his pockets would be empty by the time she was done with him.

What made this entire month really stink though was the thought of Coco leaving. She had become a great friend over the past month. She had turned 16 during his stay here and was leaving to go back to school.

But enough about this sad stuff. He had some work to do now that he actually had free time. He had a week's worth of dried meats saved up and he was intending to abuse that.

*2 Weeks later*

Zelle was back at the Adel's residence. Again. Coco had already taken off to Beacon, so that just left him with Brun and Amber. They had received a letter just a few days ago of her acceptance into the academy. Now the question is, why was Zelle back here? Well you see…

*Flashback*

Zelle was in a clearing in the forested area a couple miles out from Kirya. Today, he was testing out his semblance. Its limitations, its potential abilities. Everything.

Zelle decided to start out small. He approached a tree limb and gave it a few swings. He felt his muscles move and contract. It appeared that he may have to activate his semblance or give it a command. So he tried to reach within himself and feel his aura. Kind of like in the movies. He sat there for about five minutes, eyes closed and head bent. Just when he was starting to feel stupid, he felt it.

An energy surge flowed through his body and suddenly the stick had no weight. He moved his arm around. If he wasn't holding onto said stick, he probably would've never realized it was there. Curling his fingers he crushed the stick. His aura protected him from getting any damage. Zelle smiled. Test one was a success. He moved on to his next item.

This was a large rock easily the size of his torso. He grabbed it with one hand and began to lift. He was able to pick it up. He felt his energy drop drastically though the longer he held onto it he could also feel his arms begin to wear down. Dropping the rock his system eventually began to recuperate from the stress he had put it through.

It appeared that his semblance was both passive and an active. He decided to try a few more things out to confirm his hypothesis. Approaching the nearest tree, Zelle pulled himself up. He kept doing it until his arms had just begun feeling weak, when it got easier again. He kept doing it until sweat was pouring down his body. He must've had gotten near the one hundred mark before he decided that was enough. Hopping off the branch he noted that while his arms felt weak, they should feel much weaker after doing that many pull ups with his skinny arms.

This time he was going try and manually pull out his semblance. It only took Zelle a couple minutes this time to feel his aura and push it into his arms. He started to do pull ups again and despite doing near a hundred earlier. It felt like he was pulling nothing, though he felt a noticeable strain on him.

It was hard to describe. He was sweating and short of breath despite feeling like he was pulling no weight and felt no stress in his arms. It was like he had run a 10k without actually exerting anything. Without feeling the muscle stress was the best way to try and put it. He went at it for 10 minutes before he felt like he was about to drop.

Hopping down off the branch, he had one final test before he was done. With a massive grin on his face, Zelle walked over to a big boulder at the edge of the clearing. Ryo, taking this as his cue to move, did so. Moving to the other side of the clearing. Zelle drew the energy again, pouring it into his arm. He drew his fist back and punched the boulder. The boulder cracked and exploded into large pieces. Going across the clearing and destroying some of the smaller trees. Zelle was surprised and proud of himself that had worked. Then the pain kicked in.

Aura is the embodiment of one's soul. There is a limit to every person's aura. Some in fact have more aura than others and there are ways of increasing one's aura reserves. However, an hour of testing his semblance had dropped his aura to red levels. He was only a novice huntsman in training who had absolutely no practice in the use of aura and semblances. It was only the icing on the cake that his aura didn't hold when he punched the boulder.

"FUCKING SON OF A MOTHER WHORE, PIECE OF SHIT-." Zelle swore like a sailor.

He had good reason to swear too. Looking at his hand, it was bleeding with the skin ripped to shreds revealing bone. The bone itself had lots of small cracks along it. Blood was oozing down his arm staining the ground red.

Ryo looked up from his spot and Zelle noticed that Ryo's eyes in the very center had gone orange and was expanding as he gazed at the blood oozing from Zelle's fist.

"Ryo."

Ryo looked Zelle in the face.

"I fucking dare you, you mutt. Try it and I will punch you to oblivion and back you hear me?"

That was apparently enough to calm the strange beowolf down as Ryo's eyes returned to their normal blue color. Then Zelle got to see firsthand, the ability his pet grimm had. Ryo began to get larger with sickening cracks and plops, bone armor began to cover him and his body expanded as did the mask. Now he was staring at a fully grown beowolf. The one he recognized that he had rescued early on in his adventure.

Ryo was on all fours and did a head motion. Zelle was either in too much pain or shock to notice however and with a growl Ryo approached Zelle. That drew Zelle's attention pretty quickly. He was ready to defend himself from what he believed was his now feral pet only for him to get thrown in the air by his shirt, tearing it, onto Ryo's back.

To say the landing was uncomfortable was incorrect. The bone plating on Ryo hurt. A lot. But he didn't get much time to wallow in the immense pain of his bleeding fist and jarring landing. As Ryo took off at speeds that most humans would be hard pressed to match. Within minutes they were back in Kirya with people running in all directions shouting, "grimm attack!"

As soon as they arrived, Ryo took off towards to the Adel household. Let's just say that they were less than pleased to learn that Ryo had taken on his full form and even less than happy that they could see his bones on his knuckles.

*Flashback End*

And that is how he is here. Sitting on the porch with little Ryo and his bandaged hand as he explained to the retired huntsman of Kirya that Ryo was not a threat. After another two hours of questioning they finally relented that it was fine, but if he was going to stay, he had to get rid of Ryo. With their ultimatum laid out they left Zelle to his thoughts.

Amber decided now would be a good time to come out and talk with Zelle.

"So, we never did get to talk about how you ended up breaking your hand."

"I'd really rather not talk about it."

There was a long pause.

"You did something stupid didn't you?"

"Maybe."

"So that is a yes."

Another long pause.

"Does punching a boulder count as stupid."

That did the trick, Amber burst out into laughter.

"You, you, you punched a boulder?!" She hiccupped as tears trailed down her face.

"Why would you ever do something like that."

She was having a field day of this. Eventually she managed to calm herself though. She looked over at Zelle and realized that there was something very wrong and he really wasn't in the mood to laugh.

"This is about Ryo isn't it?"

Zelle glanced over at her and back at Ryo before scratching Ryo's head. Seeming to sense his bad mood Ryo moved closer to Zelle until his body was flushed against his side.

"Yeah. He saved me you know. Sure I saved him first after he was injured and wasn't aware of what he was, but still. We have a bond. A connection now. No offense to the rest of the villagers but aside from you and your family, I don't really know anyone here. Now they're saying that he has to go."

Zelle looked out at the horizon above the tree line, just staring into all that land with mountains in the distance.

Amber looked at him for a few moments before leaning back and putting her hands back behind her to support her weight.

"Well, whatever you end up deciding, I will support your decision no matter what. Just remember that." She smiled at him.

Zelle stared at her for just a second before a smile managed to work itself onto his face.

"Thanks that means a lot to me. More than you know."

She gave a light chuckle in response. They sat there for what felt like hours to Zelle just watching the landscape and people. Finally, Amber sat up and stretched. Her back making a satisfying pop.

"Well if you need me, you know where to find me."

Zelle watched her go inside before turning to Ryo. Ryo stared back up at him. Turning back to the horizon he noticed that he had only an hour till sunset.

"Come on Ryo, I know what to do now."

 **A/N: That is the chapter! Holy crap 6000+ words! Sorry if this chapter seemed slow. I felt the need to add an information chapter to set some grounds for our protagonist. In the next couple of chapters Zelle will be receiving his weapons. I have a few ideas on what I want him to have but would like to hear what you all have to say. Without further ado, TILL NEXT TIME!**


	4. Offer

**A/N: So I screwed up. I completely forgot that the Great War in remnant ended 80 years ago, meaning with the exception of Ozpin and the elderly, most everyone would have color based names. With that, Penelope is now Amber and Ray is now Brun (Danish for Brown. If it's wrong, I blame google translate). Now onto the story!**

 ****Chapter 4

Offer

Howls eerily reverberated the forest. The broken remnant moon was high above the sky this night. Not a cloud in sight to be found. It was peaceful even. Just being able to relax and breathe in the fresh air. Nothing could disturb this –

 **Shlick.**

The sound of metal tearing through flesh broke the still night air. The beowolf lasted only a moment later as it began dispersing into black ash. Leaving only a solid black orb where it once stood. A cloaked figure stood there, sword outstretched. Letting the black blood of its prey dissipate, he silently sheathed his weapon. The figure crouched down and picked up the orb that had fallen, placing it somewhere on his person, obscured by the cloak.

This was one of many creatures of grimm that the figure had slain tonight. The person was a man. As expressed by his attire and broader stature. On his hip, two swords, katanas could be seen, one over the other. On the other hip, a glint of metal. A pistol. His visage was hidden behind the cowl that he wore his body hiding behind the cloak. Standing at a respectable 5' 10", the man shifted his weight and began walking. He had completed his objective here.

With an odd sort of grace, he moved himself with ease through the forest. Each step calculated. As if he had taken this trail many times before.

After a couple hours of traveling, the man came across a cave. Taking something off his person, and cupping it in his hand, he entered. The cave was deep, but wide. He navigated it using hands and taking careful steps. It only took a minute before he reached saw light bending around corner. Making his final steps, he was treated to a room.

This room was quite homely despite its peculiar location. Off to his left was a burner, along with pots, pans and the like. Near the center was a brown leather couch, a low mahogany table and an end table. The end table housed the dust powered lamp, currently the only source of light for this abode. Across the table were newspapers, magazines. All that pertained to world events and the like. Further back was a mattress with blankets piled on top and a dark grey blob beside said mattress.

The man sighed. "No place like home after killing all ta grimm."

The man removed the hood revealing a shock of white hair going slightly past his shoulders. It was tied into a pony tail. Emerald eyes surveyed his home again, before the eyes landed on the dark grey mound in the back. Digging into his cloak, the man pulled at that black orb he picked up from earlier.

"Ryo." The man called.

The dark grey mound shifted and a dog, well what first appeared to be a dog, looked up. Its bone mask that it was wearing on its maw as well as the bone plating along its joints was uncannily familiar to that of a grimm. Getting up, it trotted over to the man and looked at him with what appeared to be expectancy as a long tail wagged behind the grimm looking dog. The mean tossed the black orb up and towards the now designated as Ryo. Ryo jumped into the air, snatching the orb out of the air, into its awaiting mouth. Content Ryo lazily began to trod back to his spot and lie down.

"Lazy mutt," the man said.

This man was Zelle. Former engineering major and friendly IT person at his university. After being reborn he had many adventures in his short time in a new world. Now two years had passed since his arrival. He had learned a lot of things and had become independent. Living about 10 miles out from Kirya.

Zelle moved over to the couch and slowly sat down on its comfortable surface. This thing was a pain in the ass to move all the way out here. A 10 mile trek through grimm infested forest. While it wasn't heavy (Thank Oum for his semblance), it was a pain to maneuver. He was pleased that there was little to no damage on its surface though. Thinking about how he got the couch got Zelle all nostalgic and couldn't help but reminisce on how he got to where he was now.

*2 years ago*

The village had given him the ultimatum yesterday. Get rid of Ryo, or leave with him. So he made his decision and left. However he wasn't about to leave without some proper equipment. Zelle used the last remaining lien he had to purchase a tent and bedroll.

Returning to his hut, he grabbed the remaining items he owned. A few pots and pans, the bow and arrows, and finally his most prized possession. A gold and silver metal necklace with a pendant. It was given to him by his father on his 18th birthday. Sadly, it became apparent that Zelle had a very strange allergy. His skin was very susceptible to the element Silver. This disappointed Zelle, but he always carried it with him.

The necklace itself was simple. A golden band intertwined with a silver band as they very closely wrapped around one another tightly. It looked like gold and silver rope. What was truly interesting the pendant. The pendant itself was made of silver. The background to the pendant being a big emerald. Finally the most important detail, the design. On it was a Silver European dragon. Breathing fire in defiance, with the fire being made of rubies. It was very archaic, said to have been passed down from father to first son since the mid 1500's.

Now it was his only possession from his old world. Staring at the necklace for a few more moments, he placed it in his pocket and began packing the rest of his meager things and left, Ryo right behind him. He didn't look back.

*End Flashback*

Zelle pulled that same old necklace out of his pocket gazing at it. Gazing at it, he felt a strange sense of pride well up in him. Hopefully his ancestors would be smiling down at him. Especially if they were warriors or soldiers. That would be awesome. Though he wasn't sure if they could since you know, he was in a different world.

Putting away the necklace, he remembered fighting tooth and nail with hunger and thirst those first couple of weeks. He was being stubborn and refused to resupply food and water back at the village.

He eventually got out of that stubborn streak after three days of not finding any game and had gone back to the village, without Ryo of course, and purchased vegetables and a rabbit. He greedily ate the vegetables and had given the rabbit to a very aggressive Ryo.

Zelle chuckled at his own stupidity. He was willing to starve and dehydrate over his own bitterness. Over a grimm. Now, he didn't blame the villagers. He had seen firsthand what Ryo was capable of.

*Flashback: ~1 ½ years ago*

Zelle was hunting. Surprisingly enough, the hunting he was doing was making him quite wealthy. Since he didn't have any payments, living off the land and such, he was able to keep all the profits from selling the skins off of his prey. It was quite profitable really. He had almost three thousand lien saved up over the past six months. He just had to make sure he didn't get hurt again. Seeing Amber was expensive. Each visit and treatment had cost him five hundred lien at least. Apparently doctors weren't cheap in this world either.

He had continued to grow. He now stood between 5'4" and 5'5". Growth spurt for the win. He had put on quite a bit of muscle during this time. He learned early on that he was relying on his semblance way to heavily. He would always come back drained after a long day, but it wasn't physically it was always that feeling of exhaustion after intense running. He couldn't gain any muscle either due to his semblance being in a state of constant activation, not allowing his muscles to tear.

That issue took about a month to figure out. He had to essentially 'lock' his aura. By using key phrases and taking a specific stance he would be able unlock it. He had gotten the idea from a retired huntsman back in the village. Apparently locking someone's aura was considered a capital punishment for huntsman and huntresses and the lowest of criminals. However with a bit of tweaking to the ritual and creativity on his part as well as asking lots of questions, he had created a different 'lock'. This one would lock the semblance, but also bring down the users aura to a whopping 40% at all times. Opening it hurt like a bitch though. That was still a work in progress. Finally the fruits of his study had finally begun to pay off though, as slim muscle had begun to develop on his arms and legs.

Getting his mind focused again, Zelle crouched down. He was hunting deer today. Ryo had left not too long ago to do… Well whatever it was that Ryo did on his own. The deer had begun leading him through some hilly terrain. He had to watch his step or else he would make too much noise and risk scaring off his prey.

Carefully he kept tracking this herd. There was one especially big one. A buck most likely, but still larger than the norm. It took him another twenty minutes but his search was not in vain. Atop of one of these hills he found the herd. There amongst the herd, was the biggest buck he had ever seen. The tracks did not do this animal justice. Zelle marveled at this beast. He wanted to eat it so bad. His mouth had almost begun watering at the thought of the meat this thing would have.

Breaking himself out of his funk, Zelle drew his bow silently. Kill it first, then eat. His impatience had costed him many dinners and a very irritable Ryo. Taking an arrow out of the quicver he nocked it. He would have to be quick about this. His bow made too much sound when drawn back. So he waited. And waited some more. After ten minutes the opportunity presented itself. The buck moved to a different grass patch exposing its side to Zelle. He reacted.

One second past and Zelle was now standing and the bow was drawn back, creaking as it did so. All of the herd's heads went up.

Two seconds, Zelle release the arrow. It sailed straight and true. Sailing straight for its heart. The deer had begun to react but it was too late for the buck. 

Three seconds, the deer had shifted very slight causing it to lodge itself closer to its shoulder than the heart. The other deer had begun to scatter.

Four seconds, the buck fell unable to support its weight on the now dead leg. The other deer had begun their escape.

In a matter of four seconds, Zelle had felled the biggest deer that he had come across. Jumping up and giving a cry of success, he unhooked the dagger in his boot and began to approach his prize. It was lying there, bleeding out. He was halfway there when suddenly, the ground caved in on him. Surprised, Zelle had no time to brace himself or react. He fell through the hole his foot had stepped on.

The space he had fallen through had barely enough room for his body to fall through. As a result, he smashed up against rocks time and time again on his way down. Luckily, his aura was at full capacity, and so he took only minimal physical damage from the rocks. Finally he reached the bottom. He landed with as much grace as possible, but still felt the impact race up his legs. He had gotten used to measuring his aura, with the help of Amber. He was at 40% when he fell, he was at around 25% now.

He was what hunters and huntresses called the red zone. This was considered a highly dangerous area to be in when considering aura. When a person hit 10% they would begin have trouble moving, not to mention fighting. At 0, there was a very good chance that a person could die. This was one's soul were talking about. When you run out of 'soul power' it's to be expected that death would become a factor somewhere in there. Tournaments and spars at academies and tournaments would end once a hunter/huntress got to 15%.

With these facts in mind, Zelle contemplated unlocking his semblance. However, he wasn't sure how much pain it would cause. Being conscious was much better than being unconscious. He knew that first hand.

Glancing around this room he had fallen down, he couldn't see much really. The only source of light coming from above in a small beam. It didn't help at all really to see further out.

Suddenly, Zelle got the feeling he should move and fast. With this he ran, jumped into a dive as there was a loud 'thump' behind him, then a growl. Tucking and rolling Zelle quickly turned around.

Zelle will be honest, he had been lucky so far. He had only encountered one other grimm and that was a beowolf that he managed to shoot down with his bow. Beowolves were the bottom of the food chain when it came to grimm though. Unintelligent, they often found themselves getting mowed down by hunters and huntresses. Hell, beowolves were considered training practice for schools like beacon and haven academy. What made them dangerous was they often roamed in packs. So taking out a single beowolf? No problem. But that wasn't what Zelle was facing, not at all.

Behind him was a bear. Grimm to be more specific. Ursa to be technically correct. Though he had never heard about an ursa being what he saw. The ursa had the generic grimm bone mask. It looked like a bear, giving away its archetype, but the biggest thing were its size and protruding spikes. The things stood at least 8 feet tall on all fours. Possibly 10 or 11 feet total. This thing was much larger than any bear Zelle had ever seen. If that wasn't bad enough it had that bone plating, but with spikes. Kidd you not, there were spikes going out where the spine should be. As well as its neck region and part of its shoulders.

 _I have the worst luck in all of remnant,_ Zelle thought as he stared at this abomination. Taking a wider stance so he could dodge in any direction Zelle prepared himself for the Grimm's onslaught. He didn't have to wait long.

The beast charged him again. Zelle could feel small vibrations from the cave as the Ursa Major ran towards him. It slammed its paw down, but Zelle jumped left just in time to avoid it. It shifted its body and swiped at him, Zelle didn't cover enough distance. Zelle hit the deck fast, only to immediately roll away as the things massive claw slammed own again. The Ursa was deceptively fast it seemed. Zelle tried to get up only to be forced to roll again on the rocky ground of the cave, as it pounced at him.

" _Quick, what was an ursa's weakness?"_ Zelle thought desperately. Continuing to roll, and dodge the swipes and pounces for another twenty seconds, Zelle managed to pull himself up finally. " _Shit, this is bad."_

The ursa major had led him to a darker part of the cave he was in. The light that had previously allowed him to see, was now on the far side of the room, leaving Zelle to the darkness of the cave. Leaving only the glowing orange eyes to stare at him. Leaving Zelle no time to react to his innate danger sense.

Like a freight truck, the creature's claw slammed into him from the side, hitting everything from the waist up. Zelle coughed up blood before he went sprawling, rolling as we went to the other side of the room. He came to a stop as his back slammed against the wall. He was right beside the light again. Faintly he noticed that his aura was basically gone. The orange eyes approached quickly to the fallen human. It wasn't playing around like those beowolves were.

" _Well, I'm curious what it feels like to die again."_ Zelle thought idly as in slow motion he saw the grimm stand up on its hind legs. _"I never did remember how I died in my previous life."_ The beast had gotten to the peak of its ascent. _"I wonder how my family is doing? Do they miss me? Are they still mourning?"_ It released a victorious roar down at its fallen enemy. _"I need to move."_ He tried, he did. But he could not move.

The thing began to descend. Zelle closed his eyes waiting for his impending doom. It never came. He heard a crash, but didn't feel his body being crushed. He waited for a moment longer only to open his eyes at the sound of tearing flesh, and growls. There on all fours was Ryo in his beowolf form, standing between Zelle and the ursa. His distinctive bone plating seeming to glow as he stood against the much larger and more powerful grimm. Zelle could faintly make out that black ooze was seeping out of the ursa somewhere. The two creatures of grimm faced off against each other, then Ryo leaped.

Ryo attempted to tear at the ursa's lower neck, where no bone covered its form. The ursa stepped back, causing Ryo to chomp on air. The Ursa leaned back before bodily running at Ryo, slamming into his shoulder. The ursa didn't stop there though. He kept going, into the darkness. A resounding crunch and whimper could be heard.

Zelle was flipping his shit right now. Ryo just saved him. Well attempted to. He was unsure if Ryo would be able to survive a charging wall smash from the ursa. Zelle knew what he needed to do, he just needed Ryo to buy him another two minutes. Reaching deep within himself Zelle began to search for the lock placed on his semblance.

In the meantime, the two creatures of grimm were not idle. While Zelle's eyes could not penetrate the darkness. The two had no such qualms. The shoulder charge did in fact not kill Ryo. It severely damaged him and one of his arms appeared to be leaking black ooze in the darkness. Overall Ryo was infuriated, his blue eyes now had a red ring around edge. Growling he leaped out of the way of a claw swipe from the much larger grimm. Ryo retaliated as he swiped at the claw rushing past him. Managing to score a scratch on the much larger grimm Ryo began to circle the ursa, awkwardly using its two legs. The ursa charged again, its injuries only serving the want to kill. It swiped, intending to kill this traitor of its race. Only, its hand was stopped. Looking down it saw the man it was about to kill earlier. Surrounding the man was a faint silvery aura. It never noticed the open hand one inch away from its exposed chest.

Zelle did it! He managed to unlock his semblance though he didn't get back nearly as much as he wanted, he was only around 40% filled. Back to square one he supposed. He saw Ryo emerge back into the light and faintly made out the figure of the ursa charging. Wasting no time he picked himself up, struggling with the immense pain from unlocking his aura caused and charged. He made it with plenty of time. Making his strength 6 times greater than normal he stopped the claw that would have probably killed Ryo with one hand. Seeing Ryo's left arm was oozing that black liquid (he guessed that was the equivalent of grimm blood) and dangling. There was a good chance that Ryo wouldn't have been able to dodge. With his other hand he had placed the hand about an inch away from the ursa's chest. The ursa never realized what was about to happen.

Closing his fist and multiplying his strength by 9 times he performed a one inch punch that would've made Bruce Lee proud. He felt his fist strike the ursa and what happens next was brutally awesome. The entire body of the ursa **rippled** from the force of the impact. It's body convulsed before being thrown back with so much force that, although Zelle couldn't see the Ursa, he heard sounds of breaking then a splat, as if someone had thrown silly putty at a wall. Bringing his hand down Zelle waited. Ryo standing just behind him. Then Ryo walked into the darkness.

Zelle would've loved to follow, really he would. But not being able to see was a massive disadvantage if the creature were to still be alive. So with bated breath, Zelle waited. After two minutes he made out the silhouette of Ryo. He was back in dog form and appeared to have something in his mouth. Squatting down, Zelle watched as Ryo approached him and dropped something at his feet. It was a black ball with white plates over half it. It had red lines on the plates. Flipping it over, curiously the other half was just a black ball. It felt solid, like stone.

"So, Ryo. Care to explain what this is?" Zelle looked at his grimm dog thing as he asked the question. Ryo simply sat on his haunches and stared at Zelle with those blue eyes of his. Sighing, Zelle pocketed the ball.

"Well come on you mutt. We need to get back to the village and get treated." He looked over at Ryo's leg (arm?) noticing that the black ooze had already begun to slow its descent off it. "Correction, while I get treated." Zelle stated bitterly. He wish he could heal that fast.

*Flashback End*

That was how he first learned of the cave that was later to become his new home and the orbs that drop from grimm. Zelle stood up from the couch and over to the burner. Putting some fresh water into a pot, he began to heat it up. Looking over at the night stand, he looked at his prizes. Sitting there were six black orbs. Each from a different species of grimm he had killed.

The first one was a straight black ball; beowolf. The second, a black bell that was half covered in white plates; ursa minor. The third, a black ball with small, curved, white horns coming out of one end; boarbatusk. Fourth, a black ball with red lines running through it; alpha beowolf. Fifth, a soft black ball that had, what appeared to be wings, coming out of the sides; giffon. Lastly, his proudest achievement. The orb he got from the ursa major. These are the 6 grimm he managed to kill in the past two years. While it was mostly beowolves and boarbatusks, he managed to kill a few gryphons as well as one of each for the alpha spheres. Apparently the red lines marked alpha creatures. Idly he wondered what a nevermore or goliath orb looked like.

His thoughts were taken from him as the water had begun to boil. Going over toward the wall Zelle placed his hand on an indent and pushed. Inside was a small refrigerator filled with meats and vegetables. It was powered by using ice dust crystals lightning crystals and copper. Dust crystals typically need an 'activator' per say. For the lightning crystals, anything conductive worked. By running copper tubes through and into the ice crystals, the ice crytals would passively give off cold. The first time he tried setting this up he ended up causing the room to become a winter wonderland. Too much electricity set the ice crystals off. A one to four ratio was found and now he had a work fridge. The crystals lasted about 6 months being used this way. The real problem was excavating the rock and getting it to be sealed tight enough to not let the cold air out. With enough duct tape anything was possible (apparently that was something they had here too).

Pulling out some rabbit meat he caught yesterday and carrots and potatoes, Zelle went back to preparing his stew.

Zelle remembered after having nearly gotten killed by the ursa major, he decided he needed weapons for himself. So using his funds he armed himself to the teeth. On his hip he had the two swords Masa and Mune with one being over the other respectively. He thought it was clever. Then his ever trusty machine pistol, Raiden. Named due to Zelle's preferred use of lightning dust ammunition to paralyze foes before going in for the kill. He also bought another replacement for Raiden that he named Ignis. Lastly, an LMG that was still unnamed. He had to call in a few favors from Coco to get his hands on this bad boy just last month. He had belts of dust ammunition that fired multiple types of dust. It was his new baby. He got to test it on a gryphon just a few days ago. Let's just say he was not disappointed with the results.

He also had enough ammunition to last him a month. All of this was stored in a secret compartment under where Ryo was sleeping. Wouldn't want someone to find his hidden cache.

Now how was he able to afford all of this you ask, when he was scraping to pay for his doctor visits not too long before that? Well to answer that we need to go back a little over a year ago.

*Flashback: 13 Months ago*

Zelle cut down the last of the group of beowolves that had attacked him while hunting. There were 5 orbs in total that he collected after everything was over and done with. Why he was still picking up the orbs Zelle had no idea. He liked collecting things. A lot. It was a serious problem. In his previous life he had over three thousand Gathering of the Magic cards. With a lot of them being super rare and worth quite a bit of money. He never actually played the game to much or sold any of the cards. It was just something he liked to do.

Lucky for Zelle, he had managed to snag a doe right before these stupid beowolves showed up and he wouldn't have to go all the way back home in order to resupply the arrows that had gotten destroyed during the fight. With that in mind he figured he would take it to town to skin. Where he was at now, going home would be back tracking. So his destination set Zelle headed toward town.

When Zelle arrived there was quite the commotion in the town square. Curious, he decided to go find out what was going on. As he pushed through he heard some interesting conversations.

"Grimm haven't been seen in a couple weeks, it's quite worrisome." Zelle heard one villager say off to his right.

"Do you think their amassing in a group? Under the lead of an Alpha?" Zelle heard another villager say as he moved past.

Murmurs were heard all around. Zelle frowned. This much negativity would cause a stir with the nearby grimm population. It needed to stop. Zelle opened his mouth to try and yell to calm the crowd but was beaten to the punch.

Brun hopped up… Something. Zelle wasn't sure, he wasn't in a very good spot to see.

" **SSHHHUUUTTTUPPPPPP!"** Came the booming yell of Brun. Everyone quickly became silent as they looked up at the retired huntsman.

"Now, I know that the lack of grimm is worrying. But we need to stay calm. All of the negative emotions about this is just going to get us attacked." Many people nodded at this. "So to calm tense nerves, I'm going to do a ten mile search of the surrounding area." People began to hoot and cheer as the bulk of a muscle of a man looked down at them. One man shouted, "I will assist you in the hunt Brun!" However the response the man got wasn't one he was expecting. No one was really.

"I will be taking the boy Zelle with me, and his pet grimm to assist me." People quieted down really quick with that piece of news. Zelle grimaced. While his reputation as a hunter (the kind that hunts deer and the like, not grimm) was well known in the village, he was still looked at with disdain and sometimes fear for letting Ryo roam around freely and often protect or defend him. So when this information was delivered, people were understandably not the most receiving. But no one argued, Brun was the most veteran among them and, in Zelle's opinion, a total badass when it came to using his halberd-rifle, Targon. They would respect his decision.

Zelle was feeling sick, he could practically feel the resentment and disgust rolling off the crowd in troves. Zelle attempted to sneak away, but he wasn't in the forest and his white hair stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all the darker color hair.

"Zelle!" Zelle stopped and mechanically turned back towards the stand where Brun was standing with a shit eating smile on his face. "Meet me back here at 8 a.m. sharp" Zelle's eye twitched. "Yes, sir." He droned as he felt the crowd staring at him. He put his head down and began walking away as the crowd made a berth for the "grimm lover" to leave. Brun frowned at the treatment but didn't say anything.

The next day came quickly enough for Zelle. Getting up, strapping on protoblade number 4, his machine pistol Raiden. The protoblades were test swords that he made, it was a longsword but the problem was that his immense strength would end up snapping the other three. He needed to figure out a way to resolve that. Regardless, Zelle made the hour long treck to the village, finding Brun waiting for him. With a smile and a wave Zelle approached the burly man and they headed off.

It was now one and they had yet to find anything. Albeit they had only searched about a fifth of the land, that was really no surprise. They were having roasted chicken sandwiches made by Coco. She had this secret sauce that reminded Zelle of mayonnaise. Every time he attempted to get the recipe off her, she would just wink and say family secret. Which was a lie, cause not even Brun knew what was in the delectable sauce. Zelle began grumbling about selfish women keeping their sauce from him.

Brun was eyeing Zelle. He noted the amount of muscle mass Zelle had gained. His muscles being much more lean than Brun's own. He also noticed that despite them taking a break and resting, his body was tense. On edge. Like prey ready to spring away from the predator. Brun had to give it to the kid, he would make a good hunter. Perhaps he should try to conivince him later to attend Beacon. Then he grimaced.

Zelle could not read. This may be due to the amnesia that he apparently had, but Remian, the language that they use to write, was completely foreign to Zelle. That would be a massive obstacle to overcome, if he ever to convince Zelle. So lost in thought was Brun, that he didn't notice Zelle attempting to get his attention. Until he threw a good sized rock at Brun, which was caught by said man.

"Yes Zelle." Brun said, not even acknowledging the rock that was just chucked his way. Zelle gave him a look of bewilderment that made Brun want to chuckle but refrained for the moment.

"So you know the sword and pistol I bought in town right." Brun just motioned to said weapons on Zelle's person. Zelle had the decency to blush slightly.

"Well, I had come across a few grimm and they've been dropping these orb things." Brun raised an eyebrow at this. Of course he knew that grimm dropped them, but he wasn't aware that Zelle had actively been slaying grimm.

"Well, I was wondering if me killing them had led to any of this." Zelle said motioning to the surrounding forest. There was a short pause. Then Brun broke into a hearty laugh. Seriously this kid would have to be actively killing at least five to ten grimm a day for none to be found in this large of a radius.

"Oi what the hell Brun? What's so funny?" Brun finally settled himself.

"I just find it funny that you think that you were impacting the grimm population. They are as numerous as maggots and just as bad. You would have to be killing at least five to ten a day in order for an event like this to happen."

Zelle was pouting. He did not like being called out on. But he was killing about that many a day! Well in the past few weeks. Zelle began mumbling about how adults never believe him.

Brun still smiling and seeing Zelle's downtrodden position decided to try and lift his spirits a bit. "Well hey, tell you what." Zelle looked up. "Show me how many orbs you got and I can make a conclusion based off that. You have been keeping them right?" Zelle nodded.

Standing up and stretching his back till a loud pop was heard, Brun said, "All right in that case I think lunch break is over. Now lead the way to your secret base, oh mighty great one." He enjoyed teasing Zelle about his cave, now home. Glaring at Brun, Zelle got up and they began to make his way to his home with Brun following close behind.

It took them a couple hours but eventually they arrived. Brun whistled. He had never actually been to Zelle's new home. Only being told that he lived in a cave now. But Brun had to admit that what he saw impressed him. There was a couch in the center against the right wall of the cave, a mattress in the corner following that, a few crates, and the burner to his left upon walking in. Zelle began walking towards the back, in the direction of one of the crates. It was quite sizable. Brun raised an eyebrow and Zelle lifted said crate and sat in front of the couch and sat down. He then patted the seat beside him looking at Brun expectantly. Brun strolled over and sat in the seat and peered into the crate.

Grimm orbs, better known among the hunter community as GOI's (pronounced joy) or Grimm Orb Indicators. There were a lot, nearly a hundred if Brun had to guess. Brun was shocked, here was this boy, only a year younger than Coco, with more than one hundred grimm to his name. Albeit they were beowolves, the quantity more than made up for it. Brun decided he would make some calls later. He be damned if such talent went to waste. But for now, back to the issue at hand.

"Zelle, have you ever of a GOI before?" Brun asked.

Zelle nodded his head. "I mean, yeah. Everyone has. Joy is to be happy." Brun shook his head.

"Not joy, but GOI. G-O-I. It stands for Grimm Orb Indicator."

"No, I can't believe I have." Brun stared at him for a moment. All the while internally grinning about what he was about to tell the boy next. He paused for a second, no not boy. A man.

"Well, as they sound GOI's are indicators for certain types of grimm. As you've probably figured out a straight black orb is a beowolves." Zelle nodded. "Well, there are other types as well." Boarbatusks drop one with small horns and ursas drop one with half segmented bone plating." Zelle nodded again. But then Zelle pondered something.

"What happens if they drop one that has red lines on it? Like their masks," he said, gesturing towards the entrance where Ryo could be seen entering in his full beowolf form. Brun had been around Ryo long enough to know that as long as he was being fed, Ryo wouldn't do anything. Even if he wasn't fed he would just snap at you and growl. However he was more curious of how this question came up.

"Well red lines indicate alpha or major variants of grimm. Much stronger and tougher than their counterparts. They also have above average intelligence, often planning moves and gathering other grimm." Zelle was shocked, he was aware of the existence of Goliaths, the only other intelligent grimm he had been aware of till now, but they were rare and hardly ever came near civilization. But that means he also killed an alpha variant, with one punch mind you.

Zelle nodded his head, but didn't seem keen on explaining of why he asked the question.

"So." Brun said. "What do you plan on doing with the GOI's? Zelle just shrugged.

I've just been keeping them whenever I kill a grimm. Collecting them, I guess. Their pretty neat and fun to amuse myself with sometimes."

"Well, here's a suggestion." Zelle looked at Brun. "Why don't you sell them?" Zelle's eyes got wide.

"You can do that!?" Zelle yelled. Brun nodded his head.

"And I am going to tell you prices for them. Don't tell me you don't see the way the village treats you Zelle. Don't let yourself get pushed around, ok?" Brun placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're strong, not just physically but mentally. You survived out in the wilds for months and technically still are. Just be strong." Brun squeezed. Zelle looked up with a small smile and nodded.

Brun got up and stretched it was only 5. "Well I'm headed back, you're welcome to come back for dinner if you'd like." Zelle nodded, that small smile still on his face.

They both took off.

It would be a week later when Zelle would gain his first title. The Warden of Kirya. Apparently Brun had talked to the village elder and after a week of battling against the old man, Brun had passed his title of Warden onto Zelle. Zelle was happy. With his new title, people began to finally accept him. Things were finally looking up.

*End Flashback*

Zelle had gained a title, and along with it friends, strength and confidence. He was now a full time hunter. Spending most of his days patrolling the village and eliminating grimm. It was grueling somedays. He probably saw Amber at least once every other week. But Zelle didn't complain. This allowed him to train, build up more strength. He probably wouldn't be here today without the Adels and he would be infinitely grateful for as long as he lived.

As a side note, he learned that Ryo liked eating the GOI's, and that has saved him a lot money. Seriously one GOI for a deer? Give that dog a GOI.

Glancing at his arsenal of weapons he sighed. He really wanted a hunter weapon. He by no means needed one. His katanas were forged by him using the Japanese technique of folding the hot steel again and again to make the blades very durable. But hunter weapons were highly diverse and extremely useful.

He had seen a few of the transforming hunter weapons from a few of the retired huntsman and huntresses back in Kirya. However there was no way he would be able to get his hands on one. Hunter weapons were fashioned early on in the career. So even if he went to Beacon now, there was a good chance he may not be able to make one. Even if that wasn't the case and he wanted to replicate of the older huntsman weapons that was in Kirya, he would need to ask to disassemble it in order to figure out how it functioned as well as have the necessary materials on hand. Neither of which would work out, seeing as huntsmen weren't willing to part with their weapons, let alone, someone dismantle it. And the blacksmith had a limited amount of metal, which was mostly used to make nails and repairs to weapons. So for now, Zelle was just shit out of luck. Though from what he had seen, he had a few ideas. You know, just in case. Seriously, you can't blame him. Playing a lot of final fantasy and the epic gun-blades in there was awesome. And now they exist. It was very, very tempting.

The stew was ready. Picking it up off the burner he poured himself some into a bowl and began to blow on it as he ate. Over the past year he had gotten really close to the Adel family. Mostly due to him being over often due to him over exerting his aura all the time (totally worth, his aura levels were almost double what they were a couple years ago). But during that time he had come to get know Coco really well. She was a sweet girl. She had gotten into beacon just like she wanted and was even team captain! He could barely imagine the sweet, shy girl he knew to be a team captain. His imagination wandered to see her holding onto her minigun, her weapon of choice, firing, yelling commands, all the while she was laughing maniacally. Then he thought of her in her stylish dress as she shyly asked if he wanted to stay for dinner. Nope couldn't see it.

She was currently at Beacon still, first years weren't allowed to return home during their transfer from first to second year. Something which saddened Zelle, but he would get over it. Just like with Amber and Brun, he had gotten very close to the only daughter of the Adel family. They often talked about her school, friends, and what not. Zelle talked about his 'hunts' as he fondly referred to them as. They got along very well. Their love for heavy weaponry all but cemented that bond.

When Zelle turned 16, which was a couple months ago, he received his still unnamed LMG from Coco, he wanted to hug the girl right then and there. However first years had to stay at Beacon going into their second year, so he had to deal with a thank you over the phone. Seriously, long distances sucked.

Zelle finished his stew and went to lay down. All this reminiscing had made him tired. He would get started early he figured and go hunt some beowolves. Oh, or maybe some ursas. He hadn't had an encounter with one in at least a couple weeks. With those thoughts he laid his head down with a smile. Yea, he was gonna stab those Ursas. Right through their big fat heads. Just as the kiss of sleep was to touch him, the whirring of a Bullhead could be heard.

Zelle groaned. Occasionally Bullheads would fly overhead to take hunters and huntresses to other villages to assist. Well, the active duty ones. All villages had some retired ones to act as a buffer. Those that didn't have any hunters or huntresses, well. They didn't last very long.

Zelle waited for the thing to pass, only to hear it get closer. Zelle sat up now. Ok, now it was ridiculously close. Zelle slowly got up out his bed. He grabbed his cloak and threw it on, placing the cowl over his head. He grabbed Masa and Raiden. With masa being in his right hand and Raiden in his left. The engine now sounded like it was at the entrance to the cave. These people knew where to find him. He took the sheath off Masa and moved himself silently until he was at the center of the cave room. He waited. The engine turned off.

Then he heard the footsteps, but it sounded wrong. Like there was an occasional third click as if the person or thing that was coming in here kept tapping something against the ground. Zelle leveled Raiden at the entrance. He had a right to be cautious. He knew about the white fang. They were notorious for their violence, he didn't hate faunus. He actually found most of them adorable, even the males. But in recent months they had been attacking villages and hanging their wardens.

The footsteps came closer and closer. Then they stopped right before the end to the entrance. Over the years, Zelle had gotten pretty good night vision. Not as good as a faunus but still pretty damn good. Then the man stepped into the light and he was quite surprised. Mostly due to the hair of the man though. He wouldn't let it show. Firing a shot right past the man's head, the shot ignited an electrical torch right behind him. Revealing his figure.

In front of him was a tall lanky man. Standing at what he guessed to be around 6'6". The man had on a green turtleneck with a black button up vest and over that a black jacket. He had on black pants as with black shoes. The man wore small spectacles with brown eyes staring at him from behind. And in front of him, a cane. Though the silver hair was what truly captured Zelle's attention. He thought he had been special having such distinctive hair. It was a bit of a letdown that there was at least another with similar features.

The man simply raised an eyebrow and put his hands up, left hand still holding the cane in his left hand. "Now, now. No need for that. I just came here to talk."

Zelle didn't believe that for a second. "State your name and business here or you may find the next fourty shots attempting to paralyze you for life."

"My name is Professor Ozpin. Beacon's headmaster I came here looking for a boy by the name of Zelle. That's you I'm assuming?"

Zelle contemplated his situation. Despite him leveling a gun at this man's head, the man didn't look remotely concerned. So, either this man was so strong that he didn't consider him a threat or he was suicidal. Zelle obligated to assume the former. Then there was what he said. He knew exactly where to find him and who he was. _"I would really like to find another solution but I guess I will have to use 'that'._

Zelle fluctuated his aura causing a pulse once twice and thrice then a fourth after a long pause. Ryo bound over all the while shifting into his beowolf form. But the change continued. Spikes grew out his back, he got larger, and more plating appeared along it's body. Yup, Ryo could change into an alpha, super badass. It stood by Zelle and growled at Ozpin. Feeling at least partially safe he dropped his gun.

Zelle was impressed though, the only reaction Ozpin had to Ryo's transformation was furrowed eyebrows and a slight tilt of the head. Typically, people freak out. Yeah, if this man wanted to, Zelle would be dead.

"Peculiar, well it seems that you at least trust me enough to lower weapon but it appears your…" Ozpin paused for a long moment as he tried to find the right word for Ryo. "Pet, is quite aggressive to me." Zelle would love to scoff, but he needed to get down to the bottom of what the hell was going on.

"What are you doing here 'professor'. Zelle made air quotes as he said professor.

Ozpin dropped his arms causing Zelle's hand to twitch as he refrained from opening fire at the silver-grey haired man. "I would like to invite you to Beacon

"Bluntly, I would like to invite you to Beacon academy. When I received word from Brun that he had passed his title to a young man. Well, I just had to meet this young man."

Zelle cursed Brun. _Seriously, he just had to tell literally everyone that he was now a warden. Including the headmaster of Beacon._ He planned to tear that man a new one. First thing, deal with… this.

"Sure, but on three conditions."

"Ask away."

"First thing, I want to be transferred immediately to work on my own weapon. I have the money if you all can provide the materials."

"That can be arranged."

"Second, I want to bring Ryo."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow quizzically. "And Ryo is, who?"

Zelle gestured torward Ryo.

"You are asking me for a lot Mr." He paused and waited for a response.

"Sorry, I don't have a last name. Apparently, you didn't talk to Brun too much. I have a severe case of amnesia. I can't remember anything further than a couple years ago."

"Well I apologize for my rudeness." He paused for a moment. "Zelle." He sounded uncomfortable using his first name. "However, you are asking me to allow you to bring a grimm into a school, that kills grimm correct? Zelle nods his head. Ozpin shook his head. "While I may have to pull a few strings" _A lot._ "I'm sure we can arrange that."

Ozpin could practically see the potential rolling off this boy, no man. He needed all available huntsman he could get his hands on. The grimm inhabiting the forest would not allow Zelle to grow. He was sure that he could have him grow. The strings that needed to be pulled was well worth. Or so he hoped.

"And the last thing you need."

Zelle mumbled his head down.

"I'm sorry I didn't quite catch that.

"I need someone to tech me too read."

"You, can't read?" A smirk was starting to appear at the edge of his lips.

"No, I can't. Zelle glared at Ozpin. "And if I'm going to go to school, then I should be able to read."

"Obviously. That should be able to arrange you a tutor. Well if that is it, then I assume you agree on attending?"

"Yes, when should I get ready?"

"In the next hour. Can that be done?"

"Yup I'll be out in the next twenty minutes."

" _Well, things had taken quite an interesting turn."_ Gathering his things, Zelle headed out. There standing on the entrance to the bullhead was Ozpin and a blonde haired, busty woman with emerald eyes." _I wonder how Coco is doing."_

 **A/N: Done. So next chapter will be the start of where Volume one begins for the actual RWBY series. I'm thinking I'll have the next chapter out by next Sunday but we will see. So till next time!**


	5. The Emerald Forest

**A/N: So in this chapter I'm going to be changing around perspectives between characters a lot. I'm going to try and make it as clear as possible, who is doing what, thinking what, etc. However it may get a bit hectic. Just a fair warning. However you all didn't come here for warnings, you came here for a story, so without further ado, let the story unfold!**

Chapter 5

The Emerald Forest: Part 1

Ruby was having the best and worst day of her life. She was currently heading toward Beacon, the school of her dreams. The place that had graduated so many powerful and well-known hunters and huntresses. However, she was attending two years early. A feat unheard of. After she had kicked some bad guy butt (namely, one Roman Torchwick), she was questioned by Glynda Goodwitch and shortly after, invited to attend Beacon academy by professor Ozpin himself. Absolutely awesome. Worst part, she was now leaving all of her old friends behind at Signal. Not only that, but she was surrounded by two weirdos. One guy wearing a cloak with his hood drawn up covering his face and another blonde boy that looked like he was about to hurl. Before she could contemplate this any further. Yang.

"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me. Best day ever." Yang declares.

Zelle looked at the twos interaction with amusement. He looked over the most eye catching of the two, for obvious reasons. She stood about 5'8". She had lilac eyes and bright blonde hair. She wore an orange scarf and a brown jacket that exposed the top of her breasts and a yellow sash or bra with what appeared to be fire insignia over one of her breasts. Finally, was this mini skirt thing that did absolutely nothing to cover anything showing off her mile long legs and combat boots. " _Do not get near her",_ he mentally told himself she was definitely one of those people that would love to ask questions.

So, the girl in red was the one that Glynda mentioned. Good to know. He looked the little girl in red over again. She stood about 5'3". Black hair with red highlights on the end, but knowing this crazy world, that red hair was natural. Her attire consisted of a full body corset of sorts that traveled down to a skirt. All dark grey, something he could get behind. Then there was her red weapon, cape, black sash thing. He liked the color scheme. Then there were her silver eyes. He couldn't help but stare at them. They were just so, beautiful. He had seen nothing like them before. Apparently, he had been staring too long though and caught the attention of said partial red head. She looked over at him and he quickly diverted his attention.

Was he acting suspicious? Hell yes. He couldn't help it though, well at least he thought he couldn't. He didn't have a whole lot of interaction with people for the past two years apart from merchants and the Adels. His social skills were nil. Hence why he was wearing his cowl, although that was technically part of his combat gear anyway, having it drawn up was in fact suspicious he had to admit. Quickly diverting his attention to literally anything else in the room, his eyes landed on Mr. Soon to be Barf Mcgee.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing combat armor and… a hoodie? Weird combination but he went with it. His armor consisted of a chest plate, arm guards, elbow pads, and blue jeans. At his hip was a sword that was clearly just that, a sword. Nothing fancy. Something that Zelle could respect. But there seemed something off about him though. It was as if he almost had no presence. Strange. He would consider that later though. For now, dealing with an angry blonde.

Sure enough there was a very angry Yang heading towards him. "Hey, you!" She yelled.

Zelle raised an eyebrow, before realizing that she wouldn't be able to see it. Resisting the urge to facepalm he just decided to reply.

"Yes Goldilocks, how may I be of assistance?"

That got Yang to pause her oncoming rant. She had been called lots of things before. Blondie, bimbo, hot head, and dragon fire, but never Goldilocks. Guess she could add that to the new list of nicknames.

"Why were you staring at my sister and me just now, huh? Got a problem with us?"

"Sorry, I had no intention of being rude. I was bored and your interaction was the most amusing I could find other than barf boy over there." Zelle responded gesturing over to Jaune. "It won't happen again." Good plan Zelle be apologetic and just tell the truth. He mentally patted himself on the back.

Yang was a bit taken back, she hadn't expected an apology so easily. Now that she was closer to this man, she realized exactly how tall he was, her head coming up to his chin. He had two swords that one of his hands rested on and a pistol on his right-hand hip. Under his cloak, he was wearing a green shirt and what appeared to be some form of brown leather armor, if the places it was covering were any indication. She looked up but despite her being almost right in front of him, could only make out his chin and mouth.

"Well, I suppose it's okay. Just make sure you watch yourself next time or else someone may get the wrong idea." She gave him one last glare before she began walking away.

Zelle sighed, he had been on the bullhead for what, five minutes and he already got into a scuffle with another student. He glanced back at the blonde boy who was now puking, with the two girls desperately trying to avoid him. He would keep an eye on him. Something was definitely off.

He missed Glynda's speech. Shame. As long as he didn't bring it up, she would be none the wiser. The bullhead landed not too long after. Vomit-boy as he heard Yang so affectionately call him, ran off and began barfing into the trash can. Zelle stifled a laugh. That was just like him with boats. That rocking was absolutely terrible. Even the thought made him pale a little bit.

Getting off, he decided to wander around for a bit. He knew they were supposed to be in the auditorium in the next hour, so he had time to kill. Though he didn't expect to find Little Red again so soon. She was sitting and there was a petite white haired girl with a very pale complexion yelling at her. Her dress was regal, as if she was a princess. Not a speck of dirt could be found on her. Zelle scoffed, how in the world did she not get all of that white dirty? It took all of his prowess at washing to keep his hair white. This wasn't fair. Okay, she was shaking a vial of fire dust around not good.

Zelle pushed off the ground, forming a small crater and rushed the white haired girl. Quicker than either could react to the new figure seemingly appearing, Zelle grabbed the vial from the girl and held it away from the group. Good, it doesn't look like it was going to explode.

Weiss was both furious and confused. Confused because she heard a crack from behind her and when she turned, this man had appeared. Furious because he interrupted her lecture to this dolt about dust.

"Excuse me, who do you think you are interrupting me?"

The man with the cowl over his head looked down at the, admittedly, very short girl (at least in comparison to him). Seriously she was what 5'2"? That was him being generous too.

"I'm preventing you from blowing yourself up Snow White. Apparently you don't know how to handle dust properly." Weiss clenched her fists and pointed up at the man.

"You dare tell me I don't know how to handle dust? Do you even know who I am?"

"Nope." Zelle responded making a popping sound with his lips to accentuate the p.

"I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. If anyone doesn't know how to handle dust, it would be you and this dolt here," she said gesturing to the still sitting Ruby.

"Neat." Zelle wasn't paying attention anymore. He was inspecting the dust. _"This dust is very high quality, very few impurities in it. This dust would probably be fifteen percent more efficient than whatever I'm using now."_

Weiss was fuming. "Listen here you miscreant, I demand you hand me back my dust," She said haughtily.

"I don't think I will." Weiss was stunned. "This is payment for saving you and Little Red over there from blowing yourselves up. I don't really do thank yous so just consider this a debt paid. Oh, also I'm stealing Little Red here."

Zelle grabbed Ruby by the hood and began to drag her away. Weiss was just standing there. No one had ever treated her that way before. It would be a while before she would move again.

None of them noticed the figure behind the tree a little ways away. Blake smiled, it was good to see the heiress get put into her place like that. With a small hum she pulled out a book and began making her way to the auditorium.

Once Zelle thought he was a good way away from Snow White he let go of Little Red. Seriously why did all of the girls he met so far remind of him of a fairy tale?

Ruby caught herself as the man finally let go of her hood. She was very confused right now. First Yang left her to go hang out with her friends, then she tripped over a white haired girls luggage and was being chewed out, and now the mysterious man with the cloak and hood from before had apparently saved both her and the white haired girl and dragged her away.

"Um, sorry about that." The man looked at her before he looked back at the dust and he pocketed it.

"Don't worry about it Little Red. Couldn't let two new fellow students get blown up before the semester even began." Ruby blushed.

"So, it was true that we could've blown up?"

"Yup," he responded doing that popping noise for the p again. "Purified dust of this caliber while strong, is also very unstable. There's a reason that this dust isn't oriented for combat. It would explode in your pocket." Ruby nodded, that made sense.

"So you mentioned us being fellow students, does that mean you are one as well?"

"You sure like to ask questions Little Red, but yes I am." Ruby blushed a bit. Before a massive grin stretched across her face and her silver eyes seemed to glow. Zelle decided that look was positively adorable.

"So what are your weapons? Does it transform? Do you have it with you?" She asked another dozen questions of this magnitude before she ended in a squeal with stars in her eyes. Zelle sweat dropped. _"Holy shit, this girl is a weapon freak. That's adorable and terrifying at the same time."_

"To hopefully awnser most of your questions these are my weapons," Zelle said drawing back his cloak revealing his two katanas and pistol. "They do not transform. They are basic katanas that I can dual wield or wield with the pistol. The pistol is automatic with an extended clip that fires lightning dust rounds." Ruby nodded at this, it was a well-balanced close range weaponry. "So how about you Little Red? What's your weapon?"

Ruby smirked as she unhooked her beloved Crescent Rose and pushed a miniscule amount of aura into it to cause it to transform into scythe mode. She swung it around a little before she stabbed into the concrete. "Meet Crescent Rose. Combat scythe and high impact sniper rifle." She said proudly.

Zelle whistled. This would be every engineers' wet dream right there. The machinery and components that went into this monstrosity had to be numerous. Not only have that but to add a flexible chamber, and fire out of the end liked that. Not to mention she could technically mount it just about anywhere to reduce recoil. Zelle wondered if she could help finish up his weapon.

"Well, Masa, Mune and Raiden are happy to meet Crescent Rose." Zelle said motioning to each of his weapons in turn. "However, I don't think we have been properly introduced."

Ruby blushed. Folding up her scythe she introduced herself to the cloaked man. "Hehe, sorry I go kind of overboard when it comes to weapons." She smiled. "My name is Ruby Rose first year attending Beacon academy."

Zelle had a small smile, not that Ruby could see it. "Nice to meet you Little Red, the name's Zelle. Just Zelle. Don't worry about the weapon thing. I really like weapons too." Ruby didn't really seem to question the nickname.

"So um, do you know where you're going? Cause we have to get to the auditorium in five minutes."

Zelle glanced at his nonexistent watch, before patting his pants leg. His scroll wasn't there. He left it at the forge. Guess he would just take Ruby's word for it. Looking around he realized it would be a ten to fifteen minute walk to get to the auditorium from here. He could use his semblance but he didn't want too many people to know about his abilities. He glanced at Ruby and she seemed to be really nervous all the while muttering to herself about a terrible first day. Zelle sighed, time to play good guy again.

Zelle said, "It's a fifteen minute walk from here, we would be late but I have a way to get us there." Ruby looked up at him with hope in her eyes. "However, I'm going to need you to trust me for a little bit."

Ruby contemplated this, here was this tall, cloaked man that she had talked to for maybe ten minutes. He had helped her out and they discussed weapons. So with that she nodded her head. She didn't expect what came next.

Ruby was swept off her feet as the cloaked man picked her up, carrying her bridal style. Afraid she was going to fall, she wrapped her arms around Zelle's neck. She was blushing profusely. "Hang on tight," he said. That was her only warning.

Next thing Ruby knew she heard a crash as if Yang had punched a boulder, and she was soaring through the air, hair whipping at her face. She looked down to see that they were now up in the air as if they were flying and moving forward very fast. She looked up and saw a face she wasn't sure she'd ever see.

The man was tan, he had emerald green eyes that seemed to glow and a long mane of spiky white hair that seemed to travel down further than she could clearly see. His face was chiseled, not a single sign of fat on him. He was quite handsome. Her blush returned twofold now.

Gravity decided to ruin the moment and the two began descending. It didn't take very long as Zelle landed behind a building with a loud crash as the surrounding cement couldn't stand the force of his landing. Fifteen minute walking trip done in a three minute flight. Beautiful. He looked down at Ruby only to see her blushing up a storm. Zelle raised an eyebrow before letting her down.

Ruby, much to her own embarrassment missed the contact. Other than Yang, her dad, and a couple of close friends, she didn't have much experience with physical contact. She always found it nice, but was typically too shy to initiate such contact.

While Ruby was lost in her own world, Zelle pulled his cowl back up over his head. He didn't really have a problem with being seen by others. He just didn't want to talk to too many people. The two years he spent out in the wilderness had done horrible things to his people skills. He wasn't about to start contact with someone. Though Little Red had pretty eyes so he'd make an exception for her.

"Well Little Red, we best go inside. Don't need to miss anything that's going on." Ruby nodded and they both headed inside. When they got in there, they heard someone yell, "Hey Ruby! Over here, I saved you a spot!" Looking over they saw Yang waving over at Ruby.

Ruby sighed, "Well I guess I better go, sister is calling." Zelle nodded at her and began to walk off toward a pillar. However he was a bit annoyed to see that it was occupied by a girl. Said girl had a very fair complexion. She had bright amber eyes and a narrow face. She was wearing a white cut off with a black vest that exposed a bit of her stomach. She had on a sleeve that covered up part of her right arm. She had on white shorts with stocking that went from black to purple that reached her black combat boots. Overall a beauty. Though her eyes gave her a feral look. Belle, from beauty and the beast. With his nickname decided to approach the raven-haired beauty.

"Excuse me, but do you mind if I sit next to you madam?"

Black looked up to see the cloaked man from earlier staring down at her. Intriguing. "I don't mind as long as you keep quiet so I can read," she informs him dismissively before returning to her book.

Soon after Zelle sat down, Glynda came out and gave a brief introduction before Ozpin gave his speech. After he is done people began to murmur about how he seemed out of it. Shortly after Glynda informs them that the final test is tomorrow and how everyone was going to sleep here.

"To your right are the bathroom for the females and your right the males. You are all adults from here on forward so I expect there to be no… accidents. Am I understood?" A round of nodding all over the room occurred. "Very good. Now prepare yourselves for tomorrow then, dismissed."

Zelle glanced at this fellow pillar partner. She didn't look like she was moving anytime soon. Glancing at a clock, he saw it was about seven. That gave him a couple of hours to meditate and grab a bite to eat before he should hit the showers. Crossing his legs into the lotus stance, Zelle took a big breath in and slowly exhaled. He did this four more times before his heart rate slowed to the point of stillness and everything except him and his aura existed.

Zelle found in a book that meditating allowed one to increase aura and provide increased aura control. Zelle would have to agree to the books founding's. Feeling his aura at his core, he took it and began circulating it around his body. First to his right arm, then right leg, left leg, left arm, head, and back to the center again. He repeated this five times before he then separated the aura and spread it out before bringing it back in again. This was very relaxing and allowed Zelle to keep his mind preoccupied.

Finally, he let it seep out to feel out the people around him. This was a new trick and one that Zelle had developed accidently when doing this exercise and he let the aura overextend. It allowed him to feel people by their auras. Often being shown to him in the form of color and brightness. The girl beside him had a dark purple aura, closer to black. However, as he extended it out further the colors and brightness became too much for Zelle and he let it go, dispersing it into the air.

Zelle opened his eyes and glanced at the clock. It was nearing nine. Glancing over at the girl, he saw that she had fallen asleep. Every so often a quiet snore escaped her lips. _"She may just give Ruby a run for her money in the adroableness factor,"_ thought Zelle. Looking around he noticed that many people were getting sleeping bags provided by the staff and were getting ready to sleep. Glancing back at Belle he decided he should probably wake her up.

He poked her cheek and she grumbled. Stifling his laughter, Zelle poked her cheek again. This time she did wake up, lazily looking up at him before her eyes got wide and she twitched. Zelle reacted first. His hand had drawn Raiden and pointed it at her head with his hand gripped tightly on Mune.

Blake reacted on years of instincts during her stay with the White Fang. When woken up by someone else, she got up and drew her weapons to prepare for whatever was about to happen. She was surprised when for one, she didn't have her weapons. Two, she was now staring at the barrel of a gun pointed directly at her forehead. The wielder? The man who had started meditating beside her. The room got quickly quiet as they watched the interaction between the two.

Zelle cursed himself. While he didn't have a whole lot of people interaction, two years of fighting for his life and sparring with Brun had made him wary. A bit too much if he was willing to draw his gun on a student, even if she was attempting to reach for her weapons first. Spinning Raiden on his hand, he fancily threw it up in the before drawing his cloak slightly allowing it to fall into its holster. That got everyone to continue with whatever it was as the action ended.

Blake had no idea what to do or say to what just happened, so she gaped at the man in front of her. She was pulled out of her funk as the man gave an embarrassed chuckle.

"Sorry about that. I lived in the wilds for a long while before coming here and when I saw you twitch with your hands going for your guns, I just reacted." Blake knew this made sense, but she decided to have some fun.

"So you were going to just shoot me if I had grabbed my weapons." She said with a glare. The man simply shrugged.

"Raiden, my pistol, is loaded with heavily diluted lightning rounds. Meaning, at worst you wouldn't be able to move for about ten seconds."

Blake simply nodded her head, looks like she wasn't going to get to have her fun.

"Anyway," the man said. "The name is Zelle, warden of Kirya." Blake was again thrown for a loop yet again.

Wardens typically consisted of top rank retired hunters. Their jobs included being the person in charge of eliminating grim threats to a village. They also had exclusive rights to sell GOIs often making them quite rich. It was a very prestigious position and required years of knowledge on hunting grimm. So this person, claiming to be a warden was preposterous.

"Nice to meet you Zelle," Blake responded with a small smile. She would let him have his fun. "My name is Blake Belladonna, hopefully we can get along from now on." Zelle nodded.

"Oh, that's right," Zelle said snapping his fingers. I woke you up to let you know that you should probably start getting ready for bed. It's nine already."

"Thanks, I appreciate it." With that she got up and headed toward the girls' bathroom to change. _"I guess he isn't so bad after all."_

Zelle watched her walk away all the while in his head he pulled a meme out. Placing sunglasses on and biting his lip, he watched the booty sway back forth all the while thinking _"dat booty."_

Shaking his head to get his mind back on track, he took his weapons over to one of the upperclassman to be stored in a locker for tomorrow. He also went and grabbed a sleeping bag for tonight. Finally, after setting everything out, he went and took a shower. The hot water was very nice. He had been using the showers for the past couple of months but still couldn't get over the amazing feeling. Stepping out, there was no one else in the bathroom with him. Not surprising, everyone was going to sleep to be well rested for this final test tomorrow. Drying off and getting dressed, his cowl firmly over him, he exited the bathroom to find an interesting sight.

Little Red and Goldilocks were talking to Belle. He wasn't sure what about but Goldilocks was on his sleeping bag. He continued his walk over and it appeared he was near the end of the conversation.

"Well, that's why we're here… to make it better." Ruby said. But of course Yang had to ruin it.

"Ohhhh, I'm so proud of my baby sister! Yang gushed and she picked up Ruby. _"Yes, Goldilocks is off my sleeping back."_ With renewed vigor, Zelle rushed to his sleeping bag before sitting on top of it just a few feet away from Blake. Giving him a look of exasperation, she just gestured at the two sisters causing Zelle to give a slight chuckle.

" _His laugh is actually quite nice."_ She couldn't help but think as a small smile appeared on her face. Just then, Weiss had to ruin the moment.

She approached them and yelled "Don't you realize people are trying to sleep?" As their argument began, Zelle looked at Blake before glancing at the candles. Understanding what he meant, she allowed herself a devious smile before blowing out the candles. The three girls freaked out as there was no other light source at the time.

Zelle sighed longingly as he got under his sleeping bag. This may be quite fun after all. He wondered how Ryo was doing?

*The Next Morning*

Zelle woke up early, way before anyone else. Get up with the sun and sleep once all the Grimm were dead. Best motto ever. Stretching, he sat up. Seeing everyone else still asleep, he carefully removed himself from his sleeping bag. He had slept in his hunter gear, as he was so accustomed to doing now. Moving with stealth, he exited the auditorium and made his way to the cafeteria. Lo and behold he was not the first to wake. Sitting at one of the end tables was a boy with black hair with what appeared to be a pink highlight in his bangs. His eyes were magenta and he had on a green Chinese coat and white pants.

Beside him was an orange haired girl with a very large stack of pancakes dripping with maple syrup and melting butter. She had turquoise and a rounder face in comparison with her seat partner. He had on some armor that appeared to go down into a skirt with pink frills. She seemed fun.

Grabbing himself some pancakes himself, Zelle sat at the table beside theirs and enjoy the fluffy deliciousness. As if sensing his thoughts, turquoise eyes were mere inches from his face. Reacting, Zelle attempted to place his hand on Masa, only to realize it wasn't there. Calming himself, he looked at the orange haired girl staring at him.

"Hiya, are you a lover of the gloriousness that is pancakes too?" The strange girl asked. If she noticed him attempting to draw his weapon she didn't seem too worked up about it, though her partner seemed a little on edge after that.

"Yes?" Zelle asked slowly, more of a question than an awnser.

"Excellent!" She yelled out. "Together me, you, and Ren shall be the bestest of pancake friends." She began laughing evilly before she seemed to just disappear and reappear next to the boy and happily eat pancakes.

Zelle wanted to know what she was on and where to get some. Ren, used to Nora's antics by now stared at Zelle. He was sure he saw him reach for what was probably a weapon, but forgot that it wasn't there. Strange. He would have to watch him later, though he can't say he's necessarily bad considering Nora appeared to like him.

Zelle on the other hand was perturbed. Seriously, what was that girl on? Crack, Cocaine? Whatever it was, he wanted it. He quickly finished the pancakes he got (he was afraid what would happen if he didn't finish) and decided to go retrieve his weapons for later. Apparently, he spent more time in the cafeteria than he realized because there were quite a few people in the locker room retrieving their equipment. He noted that the orange haired girl was behind him, as noted by her constant talking. Also there was Little Red and Goldilocks discussing something. Barf Boy looking lost, and Snow White talking to a very attractive red haired girl.

She had on what looked to be a strapless top that had some bronze armor on it, though a bit of her stomach was exposed. She wore black gloves that stretched toward her upper arm and a bronze forearm guard. Zelle thought about that, probably a shield user. She was wearing black shorts and bronze armor guards on her legs that extended to her mid-thigh. Finally, was the bronze circlet that held her hair up as well as her Light green eyes. She reminded him of an Amazonian princess.

Looking down at his number he looked at the locker behind amazon girl. Of course that one would be his locker. Sighing, Zelle accepted his fate of having to deal with Snow White again when suddenly, Barf Boy. He began to flirt with Weiss, of course.

Seriously how did he keep going under his radar. Everyone that had any substantial amount of aura and their mother could not sneak up on him.

"Hey, what ya lookin at bestie?" Zelle jumped and mentally started cursing.

" _Son of a bitch! How the hell did she get behind me?!"_ Make that two people who could pop up, but now that pumpkin girl was in front of him, he could sense her. Jaune still wasn't all there. Reaching out with his aura he touched everyone. He saw everyone's auras, except Jaune's. Zelle's eyes widened.

" _Holy shit he doesn't have his aura unlocked. What in the 9 Hells is he thinking? Does he have a death wish? Maybe he has a hero complex or some bullshit like that? Maybe he is suicidal?"_

Zora waved a hand in front of her new besties face, he seemed deep in thought, kind of like how Ren gets sometimes. Speaking of, she dashed back to Ren to regale him of her stories that he had heard fifty times before. Ren sighed, the quiet was nice while it lasted.

Zelle nodded he made up his mind. This was not going to look nice. Grimacing, Zelle removed his glove. Stowing it away he began marching up as Weiss was midway through, what appeared to be, a lecture. Huh, irony.

Activating his semblance, he grabbed Jaunes face before lifting him up and placing his head against the back wall. While he would have slammed it, he was pretty sure he would have killed the blonde.

Jaune was very frightened. One moment he is seducing the beauty that was snow angel, the next all he saw was blackness and something gripping his head, hard. He began struggling, grabbing whatever it was that had lifted him up. Then he felt his back touch something solid as his feet was lifted off the ground.

Pyrrha and Weiss were at a loss of what to do in this situation, so they just stared for the moment. That's when the hooded man spoke.

"So, barf boy. Tell me, do you have a death wish?" That broke Pyrrha out of her shock. She took out Milo and pointed it at the cloaked man. She wasn't about to let her new friend get hurt.

"If you have a problem with Jaune, then you have a problem with me as well. So kindly remove yourself from him." The figure didn't even move.

Jaune tried to answer, but couldn't. He was terrified. This man was going to kill him. Shit, he had just gotten to Beacon too. Albeit, he faked his transcripts but still.

Then the man began to speak. "Jaune I am only going to ask you once what is your last name?"

At this point he had garnered most everyone's attention in the locker room. Ren looked on in curiosity while Nora was whispering about bad friends need broken legs. Weiss was still shell shocked and Pyrrha, seeing no apparent harm yet, just stood at the ready. Milo raised high. Ruby looked unnerved and Yang's eyes were flickering back and forth between red and lilac as she was holding herself back from decking this guy a new one.

"Ark." Jaune didn't know what made him compelled to speak when he couldn't before, but he did.

"Good." The cloaked man said.

"By the right invested in me as the Warden of Kirya, I grant you the sacred right of immortality of the soul. Forever be your strength in life or death and may you rise with virtue. I am thy releaser and protector, for I am now your Warden."

Zelle then felt like all his aura get sucked out of his body. He was running close to thirty percent right now. Zelle dropped Jaune and took a knee breathing heavy. God damn this boy had a lot of fucking aura. A seventy percent drop? That's ridiculous. He had done this once before for an orphan in the village that was thirteen and about to go to Signal. Zelle's aura only dropped to about sixty percent. Now Jaune was like a beacon though. No more sneaking for him.

Everyone in the room was shell shocked. What was thought to be hostility, was hostile kindness.

Pyrrha's mouth was wide open, "Did he just..."

"Preform a Warden aura unlocking ritual. Yes, yes he did." Finished Weiss.

Ruby was ecstatic. _"I knew he wasn't a bad guy."_

Yang was conflicted. _"He does one thing that makes him seem terrible, but then turns around is all nice guy. I don't get him."_ She gained a devious grin. _And momma don't like what she don't know."_

Nora was also conflicted, but for different reasons. _"Ooohhh so he helped him, so I don't need to break his legs. But, he was very rude about it. So should I just break one leg?"_

Weiss wanted him on her side. He was strong, fast, and not to mention a Warden. Wardens held a lot of power regionally and were considered the best of their village. Having him or Pyrrha was now ideal.

Zelle was oblivious to all of this, too exhausted to really care. He just tiredly moved to his locker, grabbed his weapons and walked out. Jaune's next statement brought everyone out of their stupor.

"So, what now?"

Standing on platforms all the first-year students were listening to Ozpin's speech. Well, everyone except Zelle. He had only enough time to regain five percent of his aura reserves. Losing that much aura instantly was draining, exponentially so. Guess he was going to have to get Ryo to help. There was no way he is going to survive at this rate. Zelle tuned back in at the end of the speech. Grab a thing, go to a thing, and partner thing. Got it.

Zelle saw people getting launched as Jaune was questioning landing strategy, having enough of it as Weiss got launched.

"Jaune for the love of god, you will be fine. As much god damn aura, you have you could fall from this height land on the ground and your reserves wouldn't even be halved. So, quit your damn whining and prepare your body."

Yang put on sunglasses and grinned at Ruby before she got launched. Jaune didn't look reassured. Zelle glared at Ozpin from under his hood as he raised an eyebrow.

"By the way, I'm totally breaking this launch pad." Zelle said as Ruby got launched.

Zelle felt the pad move and with legs already bent he exploded pouring 10x his strength into his legs, he just about used all of the aura he used on Jaune but it was well worth it as the steel bent and warped under his feet from the pressure. Then he exploded into the air quickly rocketing past Ruby, who he gave a salute too and was still going up and about to pass Yang.

Jaune gaped before he shortly launched with him screaming like a girl. Ozpin looked at the destroyed launchpad that had housed Zelle just moment ago. Glynda looked pissed. "Ms. Goodwitch." Glynda glanced over at Ozpin. "How much pressure were these plates supposed to hold?"

"One moment sir." She began typing into the computer before a screen popped up and her eyes widened. "These plates were designed to resist the weight of larger grimm, specifically Ursa. They should have held up to six hundred pounds of instant pressure."

Ozpin merely hummed while gazing at the broken plate. Looks like he did a good job on recruiting this year.

Zelle flew past Yang, then Blake, followed by Weiss. All of them giving him the same what the fuck look. Zelle would've been amused by this if he wasn't so focused on keeping his hood over his head. The wind whipped at his person trying to remove anything that wasn't attatched.

 _You know I'm starting to realize that maybe that wasn't such a good idea. I have no way of slowing myself down before crashing."_

After seemed like an eternity for him and spotting a few other students down below he began crashing through the tree branches at an alarming pace. Zelle began counting down his aura levels.

" _30\. 28. 27. 25. Annnd."_ He broke through the branch line and landed with a crash. He tore through the ground, through a tree before he eventually stopped. _"18 is a really shitty number. Well, I better let Ryo know I'm here."_ Zelle put his hand up to his lips and let loose a shrill whistle that was heard for miles.

Zelle sat down. The stupid mutt would find him eventually. In the meantime he would just wait. Half an hour passed and Zelle was considering whistling again, when he heard a rustle from behind him. He rest his right hand on Masa. The rustle was louder this time. Then an Ursa minor burst out and charged at Zelle. Zelle simply sidestepped it and drawing his katana, decapitated the grimm. That's when he heard more rustling as beowolves and ursas began to walk out. Taking out Mune, he took wide stance with both swords facing in front of him arms slightly out. The first beowolf charged.

Zelle jumped over its swipe and quickly removed it's arm with downward swing. Sweeping around he bisected the grimm diagonally as he brought his other blade around to block another beowolves claws. They were converging and fast. Wasting no time, he stabbed the sword that had bisected the beowolf through this one's neck. Quickly pulling out, Zelle jumped right as an ursa attempted to stomp on him. Using the grimms weight and size against it he brought his sword up and decapitated it. Arcing his back, Zelle narrowly dodged a claw swipe from another beowolf. He caught its leg with his blade but had to move quickly as another beowolf had attempted to chomp on his torso. Zelle twisted around and took a large hop back.

He surveyed the now exposed grimm in front of him. He had killed three leaving eleven to kill. One was injured, and would basically just be an easy kill. Four ursa minors and seven beowolves. Zelle was going to be cutting it close here, figuratively and literally. Bringing his fingers up, he whistled again. The grimm growled at him. _"Damn it Ryo, where are you?"_

Ruby's luck was not holding out today. She had landed and was attempting to find Zelle or Yang to be their partners and just happened to run into the last person she wanted to see. Weiss. Now she was following the heiress as she walked on. She was supposed to be her partner though so she would attempt to be cordial.

"Soooo, wonder where all the grimm are? Didn't Professor Ozpin say that it was supposed to be dangerous?"

Weiss scoffed. "They were probably just overexaggerating to intimidate us." They walked for a while before Ruby perked up again.

"So this way is north right?"

"Are you saying I don't know where I am going?" Weiss shot back angrily.

Just then they heard a piercing whistle echo through the forest. They looked around for a second before at each other.

"What was that, a grimm?" Ruby asked.

"I'm not aware of a grimm that can make a whistling sound."

"Then that means -" Ruby said.

"Someone is trying to call for help." Weiss finished. They looked at each other before nodding and dashing into the direction of the whistle.

 _Shit, shit, SHIT!_ Zelle thought as his he skidded back several feet. His arms were starting to go numb from blocking all the strikes. His aura had run out some time ago. He had killed close to twenty of these things now but they keep coming. Sheathing Mune, he reached behind his back before pulling out Betsie, his lmg, and opening fire onto the grimm. It wouldn't have been so bad, but some of the reinforcements had been an ursa major and a couple of alpha beowolves. He had eliminated them, but their calls had attracted even more. Seven beowolves went down as his lmg ran out of its clip.

Taking Raiden out, he decided that maneuverability was the best option here. He fired as he began sprinting back into the fray, stabbing a stunned beowolf as he went through. Then he heard the howl. It was the howl of an Alpha. Zelle was prepared to jump back and make some space when he heard the sounds of growling, tearing, and yelps. Risking a glance back as he slashed upwards, he saw Ryo tearing out a beowolves throat while biting down on the back neck of an ursa minor.

Now as long as none of the other hunters or huntresses came, he would be fine and –

" **Crash."**

An ice shard went through a tree before impaling a beowolf. Following behind it was a bunch of red rose petals. Suddenly, Ruby appeared out of the center of the petals, as she rotated 360 degrees and removed the head of another beowolf.

" _Are you fucking serious? I really need to stop thinking of good situations because fate is being a bitch."_

He saw Weiss appear with floating circles all around her as they flung ice spears into the group of grimm, one narrowly missing Ryo. Zelle tried to inform Ryo to get away, but too late. Ruby had cut one of his arms off. He wailed. Zelle began to panic. With strength he wasn't aware that he could muster he put away Raiden and drew Mune. Mustering his strength he pushed off the ground, creating a small crater. Spinning he sliced his way through each and every grimm between him and Ryo.

He saw the tip of Ruby's scythe begin to enter Ryo. He pushed off the ground creating an even greater crater as he sped through, dropping his swords in the process. He felt claws reach up and attempt to grab after his speeding form, feeling the blood drip off his body. It doesn't matter. Then it kept going one inch after the other. He finally got where he needed to be.

When they arrived to the clearing Zelle was in, they were understandably afraid. Not for themselves, but for Zelle. Despite not being able to see his face, they could tell he was in pain. He had several small cuts and a much larger gash on his hip that were visible to them. Ruby then said, "Why is he bleeding shouldn't his aura be protecting him." She surveyed the grimm there was about thirty. Nothing too deadly individually, but the numbers were disconcerting.

"He used most of his aura unlocking that Jaune guy's aura this morning. Don't you remember him looking exhausted afterwards?" Ruby nodded her head, that made sense.

"We need a plan." Weiss nodded in agreement. Just then, the cloaked man dashed forward only for an alpha beowolf to appear and entered into the fray as well on the opposite side of the clearing.

"Weiss fire an ice bolt, I'll use the distraction and try to remove the alpha."

"But the plan…"

"That is the plan now do it!" Startled, the heiress could only comply and fire an ice spike at high speeds to the nearest beowolf. Ruby followed after it, turning into rose petals and moving at high speeds. The spike struck home, killing the beowolf. She cut down two more beowolves by swinging her scythe in wide arcs, easily bisecting the two grimm, still moving at an amazing speed she cut off the arm that she thought it had brought out towards her. She landed and skidded and got back up and turned into rose petals again as she got above the grimm. Right as she was about to stab into it, something knocked into her. Hard.

She went flying with whatever had hit her. Her breath getting knocked away until she went to a skidding stop at the edge of the clearing. Zelle was the one who had hit her. His face was bleeding, one of his eyes was bloodshot and he was covered in dirt and blood all over.

"DON'T KILL RYO! HE'S THE GREEN ONE!" With that he passed out on top of her. Ruby didn't know what to do. Then she heard the thumping, the alpha was heading her way. The one that she almost killed before Zelle tackled her. She got up hoisting Zelle's arm over her shoulder to move him. That's when she noticed something peculiar.

This grimm had a lighter fur. Being closer to grey than black. On top of that it had green lines along its bone armor instead of the normal red. Finally it had bright blue eyes. Ruby played Zelle's last message in her mind. 'The green one' she mouthed. Then her eyes widened. " _I hope this works,"_ she thought.

With Zelle's body leaning on her she stabbed her scythe into the ground and watched the alpha charge her. She closed her eyes waiting for it to kill her. One moment passed, two. Only for nothing to happen. Slowly opening her eyes she was staring into the eyes of the alpha, its face mere inches away from hers. Then she heard Weiss call out her name. Ruby's eyes widened. Crap, Weiss!

Ruby dropped Zelle and used her semblance to move behind the alpha just in time to deflect an ice spike intent on impaling the Grimm.

"Ruby you dolt, what are you doing? I had it!" Weiss said as she charged another glyph under her feet intent on charging the alpha.

"No wait Weiss, it's a good grimm. Zelle knows it!"

Weiss watched the beowolf turn around and stare at her. She noticed that it was making no hostile movement towards Ruby. Reluctantly she dropped her blade, but didn't sheathe it. "Fine but the first thing it does something funny, I'm killing it."

Ruby sighed, then she remembered Zelle. Gasping, she used her semblance to rush and check on Zelle. He was bleeding, badly. Reaching around, she took some gauze out of her belt pouch and began to try and wrap his wounds. Removing his hood, she noticed that his snow white hair was now stained brown from the dirt and dark red from dried blood. "Come on, live." She mumbled.

Weiss warily watched the alpha as he began moving away from Ruby back to where the battle occurred. Keeping an eye on him she watched Ruby patch this man up. Said man was extremely tan, if hadn't said he was from Kirya, she would have assumed he was from somewhere in Vacuo. He was wearing a green shirt and what looked to be leather armor over that, hard to tell cause it was shredded to pieces. After a few minutes the alpha returned, most of its wounds somehow seemingly healed. Ruby was putting the finishing touches on the gauze. They needed move fast.

Ruby had an idea. "Ryo."

The alpha, now identified as Ryo turned his head towards Ruby. If the situation weren't so serious, Ruby would have been doing a dance for her deduction skills.

"Can you take Zelle and follow us." Ryo looked at her before walking over to Zelle and picking him up by his cowl, placed him on his back. Then he stared at Ruby.

"Umm, yes?"

It made a backwards motion with its head. It was trying to tell her something and then it clicked.

"Weiss!" She screamed. Weiss had watched the entire interaction and knew what she was going to say.

"Nooo." Ruby frowned.

"Weissss." Ruby whined.

"No and that's final. I will not ride on a grimm. We're huntresses. We kill grimm, not use them as mounts."

"But Weiss, he could die." Ruby tried to put all her emotion into her plea. Weiss glanced over at the apparently passive grimm. It had its head tilted, as if waiting for her to decide. Weiss sighed, there was no winning was there?

Blake and Yang had made it to the clearing quite late it seemed. Yang had chosen the gold knight chess piece for the two of them. Then they heard a girl scream.

"Blake we should head back in there and help that girl, she might be in trouble!" Yang said enthusiastically, she wanted to punch more things.

"Sounded more like a guy though." Yang gave Blake an incredulous look.

Shortly after, they saw Jaune fly by overhead before slamming into a nearby tree.

"Well it looks like blondie decided to drop in." Yang said with a big grin. Blake just rolled her eyes. Not long after, an ursa minor ran into the clearing. Yang and Blake both activated their weapons. Next thing they know, there is an explosion of pink and the ursa falls over and an orange haired girl rolls off it.

"Awww, it's broken." Says Nora. Ren quickly approaches not long after and says, "Nora, please never again." He knew that it probably would occur again, but it didn't hurt to ask. Suddenly she was gone.

Nora's eyes were sparkling as she gazed at the golden rook. _"I'm queen of the castle, I'm queen of the castle!"_ Her singing didn't last long as the bushes to her left rustled before an alpha beowolf burst through the brush.

Yang and Blake didn't even have time to process that this Nora girl had just rode in on an ursa, when Ruby and Weiss hopped off the back of the back of this large grimm. Ruby looked distressed and Weiss appeared paler than normal. Ruby dashed past Yang and Blake, not even acknowledging her sister. She grabbed the black knight and king before she dashed past again.

"Did your sister just ride in on a beowolf." Blake asked. Yang's mouth was now hanging open, all she could do was nod.

Breaking out of her stupor at all the craziness occurred, she called out "Ruby, where are you going?"

"Zelle's hurt we have to get him back ASAP!"

" _Who is Zelle?"_ Yang thought. Just then Pyrrha ran out of the tree line, being followed by a deathstalker. She jumped through its claw as it attempted to grab her and rolled, continuing her run.

"Did she just run all the way here with a deathstalker on her tail?" Blake asked.

Yang was on the edge of bursting. The air exploded around her and she yelled "Would everyone just chill out for two seconds before-" She was cut off as a nevermore appeared above them and let out a screech and Pyrrha unceremoniously landing at their feet.

"Great, now we can all die together." Yang said rolling her eyes. Then she saw Ruby and Weiss mounting the beowolf before it turned northwards and began dashing away.

"Ruby, wait!" Yang shouted before running to catch up to her sister.

Jaune having gotten himself out of the tree and said, I agree with Yang a retreat seems like the best option right now. Everyone nodded and took off after Yang, with the deathstalker on their heels and the Nevermore occasionally spraying down large feathers. Eventually they got to an area that looked like old ruins.

Ruby was ahead of the group quite a ways. When she turned around, she noticed that everyone was being tailed by a deathstalker and a nevermore. Turning Crescent Rose into sniper form she began opening fire on the deathstalker, allowing everyone to get a little more room. Ryo quickly moved across the bridge with everyone else following. Just when they thought they were safe, the nevermore crashed into the bridge separating everyone.

Blake, Ren, Pyrrha and Yang were on one side and everyone else on the other. Yang and Pyrrha were engaging the deathstalker while Blake and Ren provided fire support with their pistols. Pyrrha let one of its claws run across her shield before she attempted to stab it a few times. However Akouo couldn't penetrate its armor. It hissed and attemted to sting her, only for Yang to uppercut the stinger, effectively redirecting it.

"We need to get over there and help them," Jaune said.

"Nora came up beside him and says, "Let's do this."

"Yeah but I don't think I can make that jump." Nora's grin grew devious.

She went to the edge of the broken bridge before smashing it on the end, sending Jaune flying yet again. With Jaune set she stood on her hammer before firing a grenade into the broken rubble behind her, sending her flying as well. Jaune landed. Then Nora came in and smashed the grimm's head. It attempted to impale her, which she jumped back using her hammer as the fulcrum. She didn't take into account Blake who was right behind her. Yang distracted by the two allies coming to help, didn't see the claw that knocked her down into the cliff as well.

Blake seeing Yang falling used chucked half of her weapons, impaling it into a wall. She swung herself to safety, catching Yang in the process.

"Thanks for swinging by." Yang joked with a shit eating grin. Blake resisted the urge to groan at the terrible pun as she got them to safety and returned her weapon towards her. Ruby and Weiss were opening fire on the Nevermore, leaving Zelle with Ryo. Their weapons seemed to have almost no effect.

"This is pointless, we haven't even scratched the thing yet." Growled Weiss. Ruby nodded, her brain working up countless possibilities. Yang and Blake joined the two and helped in firing at the Nevermore.

While all of this was going on Ryo moved something around in its mouth before he brought his maw down with a crunch on whatever it was. Looking down, he saw the unmoving form of Zelle. Ryo spat out whatever it was munching on revealing a black powdery substance. He then released it all over Zelle's face.

The Nevermore had just destroyed the building that was in the center of the ruins. Ruby had come up with a plan. "Weiss I have a plan, cover-" She didn't get to finish. A primal roar echoed throughout the cavern, shaking the ruins foundations. Everyone paused to stare in the direction of the former building, even the grimm paused. Admist the rubble stood a man. His green shirt torn, so it wasn't even hanging off his body. Blood, dry and fresh, could be seen on his torso. But what was most frightening were the black that clung to his body. Stretching from the right side of his face to the majority of his upper torso. His formerly white hair now black.

The man then leaped, creating a crater in the unstable structure of the ruins. He flew at the Nevermore before punching it sending it careening towards the cliffs where it crashed into. Ruby was ecstatic, Zelle was ok! But she had a bigger problem to deal with, Weiss freeze it to the cliff. Weiss nodded and using speed glyphs, quickly approached the nevermore and froze the its tail to the cliff before it could fly away.

Leaping back she found Ruby on her scythe bouncing into Blake's ribbon while Yang was firing shots at the massive grimm to keep it from moving too much. Using her gravity dust, she created a gravity glyph just as Ruby extended the ribbon to its max length.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked.

"Can I?" Weiss responded, with smugness tinting her voice. Ruby looked a little worried.

"Can you?"

"Of course I can." And with that, she launched Ruby at the Nevermore, creating glyphs that went all the way up the cliff. Ruby's scythe caught around the Nevermore's neck as she began firing off her sniper's gravity bullets and began ascending up the cliff breaking the ice and taking the Nevermore with her. At the top of her ascent she gave one last massive tug and fired the gun decapitating the grimm.

The other group were finishing with their adversary as well. The stinger was cut off and had fallen into the top of the deathstalker's head. It was in a prime position for them to eliminate the deathstalker.

"Nora, nail it" Jaune called. Nora saluted and Pyrrha raised her shield and Nora jumped on top. With that she fired off Magnhild and Pyrrha jumped launching her up into the air and shattering whatever was left of the bridge they were on. She had a big grin on her face as she reached the peak of her ascension. As gravity took hold, that grin was soon wiped as something crashed into her with the force of a freight train.

Jaune and Pyrrha could only gape as their once flawless plan was now interrupted. They quickly moved themselves off the bridge while the deathstalker was distracted by its own pain. Looking over to where Nora was, they saw her faced down on the ground and the man who had punched the nevermore standing, growling over at them.

Ren was the first to react, he pulled out his guns storm flower and leveled them at the man. There was something very off about this man. Ren was very in tune with emotions and aura. This man in front of him gave off the same feeling as grimm do, though that wasn't too surprising considering his feral appearance and the black covering his body.

Before anyone could do anything, the man disappeared leaving a crater in his wake, and then they heard a sickening crunch sound. Turning around, all of them stared wide eyed as the man just punched a whole straight through the deathstalker. The carcass then began to dissolve as the man pulled out his arm. Then he growled at them.

Pyrrha had only a second to react, but she wasn't called a champion for her looks. She brought her shield up just in time for the first to impact. She grit her teeth as she was sent sailing back, feet dragging as she went. Her arm was numb from that strike and in a lot of pain. Glancing over her shield, she saw it had a massive dent in it. To be able to dent Milo… Her eyes narrowed. She was going to have to get serious.

Jaune then landed a few feet away from Pyrrha in a heap, apparently he had just received the same treatment she just did. However, he wasn't able to block it and was unconscious like Nora. Ren was still too weak to help from his treatment from the deathstalker. The man was standing where he punched them both. His feet shifted and Pyrrha readied herself when a blast to his back, knocked the man forward slightly. Yang and Blake had arrived.

"Hey, what's the big idea? My sister goes and saves your life and you attack us?" Yang growled, her eyes switching between red and lilac.

"Yang, I'm not entirely sure he's all there."

As if to awnser their question, His head does an almost one hundred degree turn with a loud pop, before his body follows. Blake and Yang shiver, that was fucking creepy. Creating another crater the man moved with speeds too fast for them to react and he punched Blake. Only for his fist to go right through her, to reveal he had just punched one of her shadow clones.

Blake, who was in a nearby tree, had seen enough and opened fire with her pistols onto the man. Zelle, she remembered Ruby saying. Zelle covered his face as the dust bullets made contact him, but otherwise seemed unaffected.

Using the opportunity given, Yang rushed forward and punched Zelle with all her might sending him skidding a few feet. Ignoring the raining bullets, Zelle moved into Yang's area and they began to duke it out. Blake, not wanting to risk Yang to her gunfire, began to move stealthily towards a better position to assist.

Yang was in deep concentration as she duked it out with Zelle. She couldn't risk her semblance she knew. He moved to fast, her being angry would just end up with her out of the fight sooner. She had seen his strength. It would only take a few of his punches to knock even her out.

She ducked under the right hook and retaliated with a hard punch to the gut assisted by her gauntlets. It didn't really seem to do anything. He returned with an unexpected elbow from his other arm. Bringing, her arms up, she managed to block the strike and hold her ground. She could already feel the bruise starting to form though. Grabbing his offending limb, she chucked him over her shoulder onto the ground. Just then, Blake ran in and slashed at the fallen man.

It connected and Zelle rolled out of the hole. What surprised Blake was that he now had a large cut from where he slashed his back, blood oozing out of the wound. Blake gulped, eyes wary. Wasn't he using his aura to protect himself from the bullets? Glancing over his body she noticed large bruises already starting to form. She would question how he wasn't dead yet later.

"Guys," Blake called. "We can't use our weapons, his aura is down!"

Yang punched her hands together causing flames to erupt around her as her eyes went crimson.

"Guess that means it's up to me." A large grin spread out across her face. She was pumped.

Locking her bullets in place, she charged at Zelle. She mananged to get an easy punch on him to his face only for him to grab her arm and palm strike her elbow. She yelped in pain, she could feel that even with her aura up and it would've definitely broken her arm if her aura wasn't still quite full.

Rotating her body so her arm was bent, she closed the distance between the two elbowing Zelle's face. He let go of her arm as he was sent sailing from the increased strength of her attack. She was about to continue when red petals appeared in front of her.

"Yang wait, stop! You're going to hurt him more!" Ruby yelled.

"Move out of the way Ruby, you're going to get hurt!"

"No, Zelle is still there we just have to help him out of whatever is wrong with him."

During this time, Zelle had gotten up and was staring at Ruby. Then he charged. Yang warned her too late.

"Ruby watch out!" Yang cried. Then the force of impact caused a shockwave pushing her back.

Everyone couldn't help but worriedly stare at where the little girl in red had been standing. Dust clouded their vision due to the shockwave. Soon enough it cleared, revealing Zelle having his arm extended, fist mere millimeters away from her face. Ruby looked frightened.

Slowly, the first drew back and everyone waited with bated breaths. Ren and Nora had finally come too. The shockwave waking them up. They came up to everyone else and aimed their weapons at Zelle along with everyone else except Yang, Ruby, and Jaune.

Then Zelle slowly moved his face in front of Ruby's. Yang had to resist the urge to punch him into oblivion, while everyone else had their fingers on the triggers.

Ruby stared at Zelle, half his face was covered in the black and his right eye, formerly a forest green, was now a dark grey. His face got closer and closer to her's. Ruby would be lying if she wasn't freaking out. His eyes looked dead, blank. There was no emotion behind them.

Then she heard him whisper, so low that even Blake couldn't hear it. "Your eyes, so beautiful." Ruby felt a blush stain her cheeks at the compliment before she was forced to catch Zelle's body as it collapsed onto her.

Everyone stared in shock for what felt like the sixth or seventh time today. All that hard fighting, only to end in the man passing out. The way it happened was interesting.

"So, Ruby." Yang said. Ruby turned her head as she tried to hold Zelle into place.

"Mind explaining where you met this boy?" Ruby groaned, she was in for it. She could tell.

Zelle awoke to a white ceiling and the feeling of softness underneath him. He groaned slightly, it felt like he had torn every muscle in his body. Which really wouldn't surprise him if he did. He learned very early on that pushing his semblance beyond 8x tore his muscles to shreds. Not the good kind of shredding from a workout either. The kind that puts you in bedrest for the next few weeks. Or in his case a few days. Aura reinforcement only goes so far.

He then felt something off about himself. It was like he was nervous, jittery even. Kind of like when a scary movie was building suspense. You know something was going to happen but didn't know what. Zelle checked his surroundings warily. Off to his right was an IV that was going into his right arm. His left, a couple chairs for guests as well as a heart monitor. In the back of the room was a door.

" _I wonder how long I've been out?"_ He thought. Glancing at the clock it was 9. Judging by the bright lights, he assumed it meant in the morning. He moved as his body burned. He had become use to destroying his muscles during training to be able to at least move instead of being cooped up.

He slowly propped himself up until he was sitting. Scooting he removed the heart monitor and the IV from his arm, those were no longer needed. He was pretty sure he was feeling that nervousness from whatever medicine they gave him. Getting up, he felt his legs scream in protest, he ignored them. Stretching, felling his stressed muscles move and give way he sighed.

This was always the worst part, trying to move around afterwards of overstressing oneself. He managed to get to the door before it burst open and a few nurses and a doctor burst through the door. The first nurse ran straight into Zelle, knocking him over. His muscles too weak to hold their combined weight. They crashed to the floor while the other two nurses and the doctor helped them both up before moving Zelle to the bed.

"All right, let go. I get it, jeez." Zelle said, jerking his arm away from the only male nurse. Who appeared to be the doctor stepped forward.

"Hello Zelle, my name is Dr. Lumen. I will be your personal doctor during your stay here." Zelle raised an eyebrow.

"You must be confused. All hunters and huntresses in training are assigned doctors upon entry into the academy." Zelle nodded his head. That made sense.

"I see you were trying to leave, however I can't let you do that until I clear you," The doctor scolded.

Zelle rolled his eyes. "Doc, I'm pretty sure I know the own limits of my body." The doctor stared at him for some time before he went and grabbed something off a table that Zelle didn't notice had been there before.

"Zelle, what was your hair and skin color before you came here?" Zelle was becoming very confused.

"White and very tan, why?"

The doctor then handed him the object he picked up. It was a mirror. Zelle gingerly took it. His instincts yelled at him to stop. However, his curiosity got the best of him. He turned the mirror around.

Staring back at him was a person with heterochromia. With the right eye being a forest green and the left being a sky blue. Alarmed, Zelle began moving the mirror. His hand shaking. His pure white hair now had black tips on the ends that extended an inch. His tan skin had turned to a cream color.

Zelle looked at the doctor. "What happened to me?"

The doctor looked at the poor boy sadly. "Sadly I'm not allowed to discuss the results of the exams to you. You will have to take that up with Headmaster Ozpin." Zelle nodded his head slowly.

"How long was I out?"

"Just two days. Your recovery speed is quite impressive even by hunter standards. Also I am to inform you of this by Professor Goodwitch." He added with a snap of his fingers. "If you feel up to it, the team categorizing ceremony begins at 4pm today."

Zelle nodded, half listening. He would need to talk to Ozpin after this.

"Well if you don't mind, I will go ahead and check you over once more before you leave. Also you should visit that Ruby girl, she is the one who brought you here." He failed to mention that she was here at least three times a day, maximizing the visiting hours.

Zelle was surprised, but didn't say anything. He wanted answers.

*Later that day*

The ceremony came quickly enough. Zelle was using a crutch to move himself around. While it was painful to use, it turned out to be more painful to just walk normally. He stood to the back of the crowd, keeping his head down, trying not to be noticed. It seemed to be working. He noticed Little Red and the rest of the girls all standing together. Zelle smiled, good for them. He hadn't really been paying attention until he heard a familiar name come up.

"Jaune Ark. Pyrrha Nikos. Lie Ren. Nora Valkyrie. You all retrieved the golden rook pieces. From this day forward you are team JNPR lead by Jaune Ark." Clapping erupted around the room, some just looking flat out shocked that Pyrrha didn't get captain position. Even Zelle was surprised. Just another question to ask Ozpin after all was said and done. Then Pyrrha punched Jaune's arm sending him to the floor. Excellent performance. Zelle would've face palmed if it didn't hurt so much to do so.

Ozpin continued once they moved off the stage. "Lastly, Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. You all collected the golden knight piece. However-" There were some murmurs going around as Ozpin said this and the four girls looked at Ozpin confused. Ozpin put on a small smile. Zelle decided he didn't like that smile. At all.

"Due to an odd amount of people this year, you all will have a team of five." The girls were surprised as well as both staff and students. "You will be joined by the black king, Zelle." People began clapping, looking around before Ozpin continued.

"Sadly, young Zelle had suffered extenuating injuries and will not." Ozpin paused as he heard the lone sound of clicking and movement. Zelle was moving toward the stage with his crutch. All the girls had scrunched up faces. Looks of guilt plenty evident on their faces. Zelle made it up to the stage next to Ruby and faced Ozpin. He didn't say anything.

"Well, yes moving on. From this day forward you all will be Team RWBYZ led by Ruby Rose." Applause broke out around the room. Zelle gazed hard at Ozpin and when he looked his way. He tapped his index and ring finger against his leg, before closing it into a fist. Beacon code for 'We need to talk.'

Ozpin responded by tapping his thumb twice in quick succession on his cane. Follwed by his middle finger then brushing his knuckles with his other hand. " _Meet him in his office."_

Things ended pretty quickly after that. Zelle quickly removed himself from the girls once Yang hugged Ruby congratulating her for her role as team leader. Yang made an amazing distraction. Crutching himself to Ozpin's office, Ozpin sat in his seat, hand clasped out in front of him.

"So what can I do today for you Mr. Zelle." Zelle sat in a seat.

"What happened in the Emerald Forest. By all accounts I should be dead." Ozpin nodded before pulling out a remote and a TV fell off to the side.

"It's a long explanation, and I will have to show you what happened. However, most of what we know is from the girls, and their views are quite." Ozpin paused. "Skewed it seems."

"Let's get this over with. I have a team that also have awnsers." Ozpin nodded and played the clip. Zelle already knew this would be a long day.

 **A/N: Finished! So this was a much longer chapter than I expected in all honesty. These things keep getting longer and longer. But you know I've been enjoying writing them and hope you all enjoy them too. So I'm delaying bringing out Zelle's new weapon, don't worry I haven't forgotten. It's just that the item is a lot like Ruby's scythe in the fact that it's very complex and that one small mistake could be devastating to the entire design. Thus, he is taking his time making it, just as I will add it when I feel like it would be done in canon. So far I've been sticking pretty close to canon but that should change later on. Also I don't really know how I feel about this changing perspective thing. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but with the way I write, it's just a mess. Next chapter I think I will change alternating pov's for odd amounts of time. Like have everything be under Zelle's perspective or Ruby's or Yang's or whoever is the primary character for a scene. Tell me what you all think. Should I keep the open switching perspective or do a limited third person character point of view?**


	6. Day One

**A/N: So what took this chapter so long to get out was I attempted to write it using a third person limited view where the action was taking place around character. I didn't really work out the way I hoped so ended up just scrapping most of it and restarting. So this chapter shall continue on with the same changing perspectives as before.**

 **Chapter 5**

Day One

Zelle leaned back in his chair as he took in everything he was just told. Ozpin simply stared at him as he took a sip of his coffee. Ozpin had just shown him the video of him going berserk. Sadly they had no idea what caused at as the camera situated in the ruins had destroyed the camera aimed toward there. So what caused his berserk rage is unknown. He watched as he beat the living hell out of the rest of team JNPR and BY. He really needed to work with Jaune. Kid's a liability. He wasn't going to die due to someone else's problems.

He watched as the video replayed and he almost hit Little Red in the face. He had no problem with punching literally everyone else. Peculiar. He would need to talk with Little Red and see if there was anything that he had done or said before he collapsed. Zelle tore his vision away from the screen to look at Ozpin.

"As we have already discussed, I have no recollection of attacking the girls. I also would like to add that I have no idea what caused me to go berserk. Though whatever it is made a permanent mark." Ozpin simply raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

Zelle raised his sleeve up till it revealed his forearm. There on his forearm, was a strange design unknown to Zelle. It was a circular design, similar to a swirl, but covered the entire top of his forearm, making it more of an oval shape.

Ozpin leaned over his desk a little bit as he studied the markings. A few moments passed before he leaned back and said, "I'm not entirely sure what it is but I can ask Dr. Oobleck to see if he happens to have any records on anything similar. Now, is that all you need or is there something else you wish to discuss. Zelle shook his head.

"That is all." With that, Zelle got up and used his crutch as a support, began to make his way toward the elevator. He watched as the door to the elevator shut and leaned back against the railing of said elevator.

" _I really regret choosing to be a hunter. I've had way too much shit happen to me for this to even be considered remotely worth the amount of pain and effort I've had to put myself through. If I didn't know any better I am the protagonist to some shitty manga."_

He was broken out of his thoughts as the elevator reached the ground floor. He took out his scroll. Glynda had sent him a message with his room number and his teammates scroll numbers. Glynda had acted as his Rune instructor as well as supervisor during his early stay at Beacon. He didn't think they were close, but they helped out one another when they could. Glynda doing more for him than for her though.

Zelle began crutching his way to the dorms. With a small grin, he decided to just ditch sleeping tonight. It wouldn't be the first nor the last time. Finding Ruby's number in his admittedly short contact list, he messaged her letting her know that he would be out late and not to worry. He was about to put his phone up when he looked through his contacts again. He only had nine contacts. Seven of which were girls and the two men were grown adults. He really needed to get some guy friends.

Changing directions, Zelle began making his way to the forge. Entering through the heavy oak door, he made his way inside. Inside, there were a bunch of heavy equipment as you expected from a forge. Hammers, mallets, tongs, iron bars all lying around. There were twelve stations for people to work at. Each properly equipped to create or modify your weapon as needed. There were repair stations outside this building as well, for those that didn't need to use the forges.

Currently there was no one inside. Freshmen were getting to know their new teammates and the upperclassmen were getting ready for another semester at Beacon. Zelle had other priorities than teammates at the moment. After all, what good is a hunter without their weapon? He passed by all the forges before he reached a locked iron door. Pressing his hand against the door he heard the lock click as it was unlocked.

Entering, he closed the door behind him. Locking it as he did so. Turning around, the place looked more like a lab than a forge. Tubes, glass bottles, mortars and strange machines filled the room. Off to the side there was a smelter and forge as well as all the equipment for smithing. Zelle went over to the forge and ignited the coals starting up the fire, putting on his smock, he went over to a case. Opening it, there were dust crystals. Twelve in total. Half of them were black and the other half a very light grey. Zelle smiled, time to work on prototype fifteen.

"Guys, he says he won't be coming back tonight." Her supposed 'leader' said.

Yang had her head down, her hair covering her face. Blake was reading, but Weiss could tell she was upset by the news and Ruby looked ready to cry at a moment's notice. " _No leader should cry_ ," Weiss scoffed. She kept her opinion to herself though. For now.

"Listen, if he wants to be alone, let him. He might be feeling awkward that he has to room with four girls." Weiss tried to reason. Like an actual leader, instead of moping.

Yang lifted her head up, a thoughtful look adorned her face. "You know Weiss you have a point." Weiss flipped her hair, a large smile present.

"Of course I'm right, it is expected of my position as a Schnee." Internally Weiss was struggling. This Zelle looked very familiar. He almost looked like him. NO. She wasn't going to think about that. Weiss' face quickly dropped at her thoughts as Yang continued.

"I guess that leaves it up to me to break him into a woman's charm."

"I can help too," Ruby yelled excitedly.

Yang sweat dropped at her sister, "No Ruby your too young for that."

"I don't understand." Ruby tilted her head in confusion.

"You will later sis."

Blake decided now would be a good time to interject. "He said he wouldn't be coming back tonight so we should all get some rest and unpack in the morning." There were a round of nods.

Weiss sat up and went into the bathroom to change. As she undressed, her mind kept wandering to their only male teammate. She couldn't help draw similarities to him and the white hair definitely didn't help. She glanced at her scroll. She needed a second opinion. But there was only one other person she could ask. She really didn't want to have to contact her sister but this was important.

Picking up her scroll, she went through her contacts before she saw Winter's name. Pressing her name she sent her a message. 'Winter, we need to talk. I may have found HIM. Call me whenever you can.' With that done she put her pajamas on. Quickly exiting, she realized that the rest of her team had already changed and were in bed. She did so as well. Thoughts swirling around the man that was Zelle.

Zelle woke up really early as usual. Taking his head off the desk he was leaning on, he looked around, idly noticing that he had fallen asleep in the forge. Again. Getting up from the chair he leaned back until there was a satisfying pop from his back. He looked over to his now completed weapon. He had spent multiple months getting this stupid hunk of junk working. Now he would be able to test it out. Maybe. So he strapped the weapon onto its custom mecha holster. He immediately felt the weight affect him as his semblance kicked in. Damn was it heavy.

Pulling out his scroll, he checked the time to see it was seven, meaning he only had a few hours of sleep, although this was sleeping in for him. He had classes at nine and he still had to get ready for the day. Knowing how procedure goes from Goodwitch all his stuff would be in the dorm room. He frowned. While he had nothing against the girls, it was troublesome to have four girls and one guy in a room. Might as well get it over with. He would hit up the cafeteria first. Wouldn't want to be hangry when talking to bunch of teenage girls that could create ice or turn into rose petals.

Breakfast was pleasant. He was one of the only first years in here as far as he could tell. They were probably sleeping in. The cafeteria food was top notch. He never knew pancakes could taste that delicious. And don't even get him started on the coffee. Before he died, people called him a coffee addict for drinking a sixteen-ounce cup a day. Since coming to Beacon he would be lucky to stop at the second cup. No wonder Ozpin drank so much. Pulling out a small thermos, he poured the dark liquid into it and made his way to the room.

Walking down the halls he spotted team CRDL he thought they were called, heading the opposite direction. They all gave him shit eating grins. _"Wouldn't be high school without bullies I suppose."_ Zelle thought. He was going to knock until he heard what he thought was construction. Hesitantly, he scanned his card on the electronic lock and slowly opened the door. What he saw appalled him. The girls were standing off to the side as they inspected the most horrible piece of engineering that Zelle had ever witnessed.

They had attempted to make bunk beds. With one bed hanging by rope by the ceiling (Zelle reminded himself to complement Ozpin on the school's structural integrity) and the other stacked on top of books. This was a disaster in the making.

The girls slowly turned around as they heard the door open. In the doorway they saw Zelle looking mortified, gaze toward the beds.

"Zelle, where have you been?!" Ruby yelled as she was quickly in front of said boy.

"Yea, hotshot. Where did you go last night? You already get some action?" Yang smirked as she winked at him. Blake had pulled out a book at some point and began reading it and Weiss was studying him.

Much like Ruby, Zelle had modified the uniform to accommodate his cowl. He now wore black pants and a forest green shirt that had patterns that caused him to look as though his shirt was moving as he did. However, Weiss' attention was drawn to his white hair with black tips.

Zelle was ignoring everyone as he stared at this atrocity that could be called 'bunk beds'. This shouldn't even be possible. How was everything staying together. Zelle slowly looked to the girls and they were all staring at him, waiting for his response to their questions. Well two of them were.

Zelle simply pulled out his scroll. and called the one person he could think of to help.

"Ozpin, I have an emergency." Zelle said blandly. The other girls looked alarmed and Blake even put down her book. "I need bunk beds before my team kills themselves." The girls looked away bashfully while Weiss just sweat dropped.

"And a hammock for me if we have any." Zelle paused. "We don't? Alright, thanks. I'll figure something out." He closed his scroll. He turned to the girls who were staring at him in shock.

"Questions later, we have ten minutes to get to class," Zell commented as he walked out the door. Weiss glanced at the clock and gained a look of mortification before following Zelle. No way she was being late. The others quickly followed.

As they ran through the courtyard, Ozpin took a sip of his drink and Glynda checked her watch.

"They're going to be late," Glynda commented.

"Now, now. Have some faith, they should get there right on time," Ozpin defended his students.

Then they noticed Zelle lacking behind his team as he had his hands behind his head with Ryo following close behind in his dog form. Where he came from was anyone's best guess. Ozpin couldn't help but sweatdrop.

"Well except for Mr. Zelle there. He will definetly be late."

Glynda decided she wasn't having any of this. This was basically her personal student for the past three months. She had taught him runes and rudimentary history as well as various other hunter classes such as teamwork and tactics. She'd be dammed if he was going to be late.

She began marching up to Zelle who turned to her. The lack of sleep was evident on him. Knowing him, he was up tinkering with that blasted weapon of his. Apparently, the design was so dangerous that Ozpin gave him his own private room in the forgery. Even she didn't know the exact details of the weapon other than Ozpin commenting that it wasn't safe. However, that wasn't her concern right now.

Zelle gave her a lazy wave. "Yo, Glynda. How goes it?"

Then there was his infuriating speech. He barely even bothered to use any form of grammar. Glynda was officially pissed.

"Good morning Mr. Zelle. If you don't hurry up you are going to be late for class."

"Yeah, I probably will be. I had to get my team once I realized they weren't in the classroom, thus making me late. So, I blame them by proxy," he replied with a shrug.

Glynda sighed. "Zelle, what class do you have?"

Zelle took a thinking pose. "I believe it is with one professor Port. Why do you ask?"

Suddenly, a glyph appeared above and behind Zelle, officially locking him in place. Zelle began to sweat a little.

"Umm, Glynda. What is this about?"

"I refuse to have my personal student be late for class on the first day. Now I believe Professor Port's class is on the third floor fourth window right of the entrance. Now if we do a little bit of this." The glyph behind Zelle got a little bit bigger. Zelle was now full on sweating.

"Hey Glynda you don't have to do this, I can run there."

"No time. Don't worry I'll take responsibility for the damages."

She didn't wait for a response as he was launched through the air and through the window, crashing through it. With a wave of her crop, she quickly repaired said window and returned to Ozpin.

"That seemed a bit overkill don't you think?" Glynda just shook her head.

"Well, all right then. I need to get back to my office now, if anything serious comes up, let me know." With a curt nod Ozpin left.

Glynda sighed. She could feel it. Today was going to be a long day.

Zelle was not having a good time. He had been studying glyphs and learned how amazing they were and had just recently begun incorporating them into his fighting style. While he may never get as good say Weiss or Glynda, he would be damned to let such a useful thing go.

Right now, he hated glyphs. Absolutely despised them. He had entered his class in the most grand and terrible manner possible. Straight through the window, right in front of who he presumed to be his professor. He was staring straight up, on his back, at a man with a red overcoat. He was short, very much so, and was extremely… round.

"Ah, just in time Mr. Zelle, as expected from a former warden! Now why don't you take a seat with your team?" The round man proclaimed rather loudly. Zelle flinched at the volume, used to the quiet that came with his tinkering or the surrounding forests where he trained his more. Ahem. Destructive techniques. Pushing off with his hands he launched himself to his feet before gazing around the full classroom. He quickly caught sight of Little Red and Goldilocks waving at him before he saw Belle point at a seat beside her. He took a step when his backpack came crashing through the window. However, Zelle was ready with reflexes born from survival he snatched the backpack out of the air. To everyone else he was a blur before he had his backpack in hand. Whispers began circulating among the students quite quickly after that. Shortly after the display of agility, Zelle amiably took his seat next to Belle. Port began his instruction and Zelle was no longer listening. He instead was thinking up improvements for his new weapons as well as what to do about his new team.

Weiss was trying her hardest to focus on the class, but her attention was too focused on two things. Her incompetent team captain goofing off and Zelle. While one was for more obvious reasons, she was worried about Zelle. He was too shrouded in mystery, almost more so than Blake. He doesn't have any records. None. She had looked and contacted a lot of sources but came back with nothing. However, she had this nagging feeling that she should know him. Her attention was brought back to class when she heard Professor Port say, "Now we shall see what a real hunter can do. Mr. Zelle would you mind demonstrating your skills for the class." Everyone turned to him and he shrugged before jumping down into the clearing where professor Port stood.

"Umm, sorry to ask this but are you going to grab your weapons."

Zelle smirked and replied, "Oh Professor, I am always ready for combat. Just bring out the grimm."

Professor Port nodded and opened a hidden door and dragged a cage out. "Watch closely students, this is what a true huntsman looks like." Professor Port looked toward Zelle. Zelle nodded, and Porfessor Port released the latch, just as a boarbatusk launched itself out towards Zelle.

Zelle simply sidestepped the grimm and let it roll on by. He didn't take out his weapon. Not yet. The thing stopped spinning and turned around as it skidded along the ground. It charged again, this time Zelle was ready. Placing his hand where his katana would normally be he waited until the grimm was almost right on top of him. It happened in an instant. Only three people could track what happened. Professor Port and Pyrrha due to their experience and Ruby due to her high-speed semblance.

Zelle's hand shimmered and a glyph appeared over his hand. Then he drew the katana making a slashing motion at the boarbatusk and at the end of his swing, he let go of the blade and it disappeared into a similar glyph.

What everyone else saw was the boarbatusk roll past Zelle as he sidestepped with Zelle now having his hand extended, not even seeing his swinging motion. Before they knew it the grimm's roll began to slow till it tapped the wall and it split in half as it began to dissolve. Most of the class was confused. Did he just cut the grimm with his hand? When did he move? How strong was this new student?

Zelle turned around and gave a small bow to the people. A small smile adorning his features. People clapped awkwardly, all the while with a jumping Ruby clapping madly and Pyrrha with a look that Zelle couldn't exactly identify. It seemed almost hungry?

The bell rang shortly after and Professor Port dismissed the class. Weiss stormed off and Yang looked at the rest of their team and asked, "So, does anyone know what that was about?"

"No, but she's my partner so I better see what's going on." Ruby replied. Everyone nodded at that and Ruby headed out.

Zelle then saw Ryo trail after Ruby. He sighed, that was never a good sign.

Yang turned around. "So big guy, where were you last night? Hopefully not with another girl when you already have us four?" She asked teasingly, only to find his outline with dotted lines replaced where he used to be. Yang deadpanned and gestured at the outline while looking at Blake simply shook her head and shrugged as she walked off back to the room. She wanted to go ahead and get her homework out of the way so she could get some sleep. Yang sighed and followed her partner. Things were already going great she thought sarcastically.

Zelle tagged just behind Ruby so she wouldn't detect him. Ryo had found himself in his hood, again. Luckily Ryo never pooped so it wasn't an issue, thank god. Ruby caught up and got into a fight with Weiss (you all know what happens), and she sat there dejectedly before she looked up at Zelle who had a determined look in his eye.

"I'll go talk to her." He began walking away, and Ruby nodded solemnly. As she was ready to head back before she heard Zelle's voice ahead of her.

"For what it's worth, I think you will end up being a great leader. You're young, you have plenty of time to fit into the boots of leadership." Ruby perked up at this a small smile gracing her face. She quickly took off back toward the room. Although harsh, Weiss was a bit right. She needed to start acting like a leader.

Zelle lazily strolled next to Weiss. She was leaning forward on some railing and looking off into the sunset as the day ended. Zelle leaned back against the rail and looked at Beacon tower. Silence filled the air as they both stood there for a long moment before Weiss spoke up.

"I'm not apologizing."

"I never asked you too." Zelle replied. Weiss turned to him then.

"So, what are you doing here then? Came here to reprimand me? To tell me that I'm being selfish? Sorry to tell you, but I'm already aware of that."

Zelle shrugged. "Then it sounds like you are aware that you were in the wrong."

Weiss was fuming. "Doesn't mean I'm not wrong! She is much younger than me. I was raised with the highest of expectations. It feels as if she is stomping on my hard work. The tears and blood I shed to get here." As she said this she traced the bottom of the scar on her right eye.

Zelle sighed. "This is exactly why you aren't leader."

"Excuse me, what is that supposed to mean?"

"Your expectations for people are beyond comprehension. You place yourself on this pedestal due to you family. This princess act is exactly why you didn't get the position. You're a princess with no dwarves to help you Snow Princess." He stood up from the rail and stretched.

"That's your family too."

Zelle's head snapped to her so fast, Weiss was surprised it didn't snap.

"I'm sorry, but did you just say I was related to you." Weiss nodded and put her hands on her hips.

"Don't play dumb Ash, I know that it's you. Seriously, what is up with that name? Zelle, seriously? Where did you get that from?"

Zelle was thoroughly confused. Here was Snow Princess telling him that they were related. That was impossible though. He had come from another world, reborn into this one. It didn't make sense. A headache began working its way onto Zelle.

No, wait. He never existed in this world and when he arrived he had a body that was very different from what it was previously. His headache began getting worse. Ryo began stirring in his hood. What if his soul had come to this world, but he never had a body. Then that means this body wasn't his own. This body had a background, he had history. Oh god. Zelle began feeling sick, headache pounding. Then who was he, this Ash or Zelle? Before he could continue with his thoughts, the world suddenly went black.

Weiss watching his face contort into many different faces. Ranging from confusion, to horror, and finally sickness. Before she knew it he collapsed and that disgusting Grimm jumped out of his hood. She would worry about that later though. She dashed over to Ash. He had a light sheen of seat on him and he was sickly pale. Weiss freaked out she needed to get him to the nurse. She began dragging him through the halls before she saw Yang walking towards them.

"Yang! Help!" Weiss called.

Yang saw Weiss dragging the much larger Zelle and quickly ran over and helped. They took him to the nurse's office before they were ushered out of the room so the doctor could look him over.

Weiss went back to the room and saw Ruby studying diligently. She thought of what Ash told her and approached Ruby to help her out and inform her of Ash… Zelle. Yang decided to stay in the nurse's lobby just in case he woke up. Zelle appeared to be a much bigger handful than anyone expected.

 **A/N: And chapter. Again, I apologize for this chapter being so late and short. Hopefully it was worth the wait. Next chapter will be solely from Zelle's perspective as I continue to build up his character. Make sure to comment on what you thought, and until next time!**


	7. Recollection

**AN: Good news, I'm alive! So I've read through the comments I've gotten and I appreciate the support. I feel the need to mention though that this isn't going to be a gamer/RWBY crossover. I originally had plans for the boxes to serve the purpose of starting the story in a comedic way. Sorry if you were hoping for a crossover… Regardless, the boxes will have importance, and will be making occasional appearances in this story. Now, let's see what's going on with Zelle, shall we?**

Recollections

"Ash darling. come here please." Ash dropped his toy truck that he had been playing with and with a smile dashed towards his mother.

Ash was a boy of the age of seven, standing at around four feet tall. He belonged to the regal Schnee family. As was apparent by his snow-white hair and expensive clothes with the Schnee family crest adorning his shirt. Like all members of the Schnee family, his name had some context to white. For the most part, he was considered a well-behaved child. He had his outbursts though, as children tended to have.

He recently had been playing with his toys before his mother had called him. He especially enjoyed tinkering with things. Often getting into the dust collections without anyone noticing and causing them to burst with their effects. Curiosity at its finest really.

His little legs padded loudly against the hardwood floor as he ran to his awaiting mother. Smiling all the way into the kitchen. His long white hair swaying as he moved. He arrived too the kitchen to see his awaiting mom and the maid Jade. His dad was out on business as he typically seemed to do. It didn't really bother Ash much. His tinkering with his toys and playiing with dust and Jade and mother took up most of his time and attention.

His mother was currently sipping some tea and she seemed sad? Ash approached his mother and asked, "Mom, what's wrong? Why are you sad?"

Ash's mom turned to him with a sad smile and picked him up and sat him in her lap. Jade took this moment to leave the room. It wasn't her place to be here for the upcoming conversation. His mother began to stroke his hair and Ash leaned into her touch.

"Ash darling, I have some bad news." She brushed some hair that was laying against his forehead. Ash looked up at his mother and he could see tears in her eyes.

"Mom, why are you crying? Did something happen?" Ash asked worriedly. He had never seen his mother cry before. It was quite distressing to the small boy.

"Your father. He won't be coming home." This confused Ash. Was father going on extended leave again? This wasn't abnormal for him as his father would sometimes be out of the house for months at a time. However, mom never cried like this. So, Ash tried to comfort his mother.

"It's okay mom. Dad will be back soon. He will just be gone for a few more months, right?" This didn't have the result that Ash was hoping for as his mom was now openly crying.

"No sweety. He's dead. Gone. The White Fang, they killed him." Poor Ash didn't know of the rising terrorist group known as the White Fang at the time. However, he was aware of the meaning of death and what being killed meant. Tears began growing in Ash's eyes.

"No, no, no. Mom this is a joke right. If I've been bad I'm sorry, but when is dad going to be home." Ash's mom just cried harder. Tears were now flowing from Ash's eyes.

"Mom please. Where's dad?! Mom?!" He grabbed her shirt and began crying into her chest. It would be long time before mother and son would separate from their grieving.

Young Ash's world was turned upside down with the death of his father. His mom began keeping a little more distance between her and him though she never neglected his upbringing, always being there for his time of needs. Jade, the house maid, would often be the one to care for him for his physical needs. Making sure to make his food and drink for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Ash himself began immersing his attention into glyphs, the Schnee family semblance, and dust. The bread and butter of the Schnee family. He was considered a prodigy with glyphs being second to Winter, his distant relative. Although his functioned very differently from the -main family Schnees. For one, his primary glyphs were jet black. Second, his had no capable ability to summon defeated foes, instead his stored things. He learned this altercation to the glyphs after consulting the Schnee archives at the main family home in central Atlas after an accident occurred where he stored a large quantity of dust. Where they were stored, not even Ash knew. It was also strange, because due to his storing glyphs, he was incapable of using gravity glyphs. He just assumed it may be due to the similar structure of the two.

Along with this he immersed himself in the properties of Dust. While he wouldn't be the heir, that position belonged to Winter, his cousin. He really wasn't sure he would even be able to call her that. The Schnee family is quite extensive. Their great-great-great grandmas were sisters. So distant cousins were the best he could do. He would take control of a small branch that his father had previously been running in northern Atlas, close to the mines themselves. So, he would do both of his parents proud. He would take control of this branch and make it bloom. He would not follow Jaques ideas though. The Faunus did not deserve to be treated the way they were. Treating them better would mean better efficiency, that's what Ash thought anyway. However, all his plans were ruined during the winter of his thirteenth year.

Ash was studying some texts from the family archive detailing the correct formula to create lava dust. A combination of earth and fire dust that when activated with aura creates magma. Then he heard crashing coming from downstairs. He sighed. They recently hired a new butler, an amateur really. Why his mother decided to do that was beyond him. He got up and opened the door. He would need to figure out the damage of things. He began to walk down the long hallway when something caught his attention. It was quiet. Too quiet. He should hear the butler at least picking up the stuff he dropped. It was late so he didn't expect anyone else to be awake. Then he heard a creak come from the stairwell dead ahead. Every hair stood on end for Ash. The feeling was similar to how he felt after watching a scary movie. When everything at night set him on edge. He heard another slight creak. Ash quickly ducked into the open room to his right, trying to be as silent possible as he did so.

He hid behind the open door in the room he was now in, which was the new butler's room. He heard soft slow footsteps move closer to the door. Ash tensed. Okay this was now a serious situation, this wasn't some paranoia induced from a scary movie. This was a person moving through his house, with his Mom and everyone else here. The steps began moving past him. He needed to get downstairs first and try to get a grasp on the situation. He needed to evaluate the situation before he could decide what to do next. So as the footsteps moved past, Ash glanced around the corner and could see a retreating figure. Moving quickly and quietly as possible, he put socks on that were much too big for him from the Butler's dresser and slid down the banister and jumped on the carpet into a roll. Quickly and stealthily. He didn't have a weapon and none of his glyphs were combat oriented. Jade could fight so he would need to wake her up. Quickly moving across the living room, he reached the kitchen. The light was on, but there was no sound. He looked down and noticed a red liquid coming from inside. Ash gulped, and slowly opened the door.

Inside, he saw a literal bloody mess. The body of his new butler, Bale, he thought his name was, was lying face down in a pool of his own blood with blood coating the counter and kitchenware. Ash had to hold back a gag. However he couldn't ponder this revelation as he realized that everyone in the mansion was in danger. He needed to get Jade. Now. Stealth all forgotten, he practically ran up the stairs to the first door on his right. Opening it, he saw that the covers were thrown over her. He ran and pulled the covers off and said in a rapid whisper, "Jade get up. Bale is dead and -." He cut himself off as he gazed at the blood stained body of Jade staring blankly back at him. Ash paled as he felt his stomach drop. Then he realized that there was one more truly important person in the mansion. "Mom," he whispered. He ran down the hallway no longer caring for stealth. He slid, as he saw the open door to his mother room. Only arriving to see a person with dark grey clothes pulling a short sword from his mother's chest.

Ash's eyes widened, mouth agape. "NOOOOOOOOOO!" He screamed. Unconsciously, creating a glyph in front of the intruder blowing them straight through the window in front of the bed. Ash quickly approached his mom's bed. She looked so peaceful as red began staining her night gown. Ash hesitantly put his fingers against her neck. Nothing. There was nothing. He mechanically glanced outside where he blasted the intruder and saw them lying on the ground below, unmoving. For whatever reason, he took no satisfaction in killing his mother's killer and possibly Jade's murderer. Just numb. Then he felt something strange around his stomach area. Looking down, he saw a blade that was now running through his stomach. Then he heard a light male voice say, "sleep with the fishes you Schnee bastard." The blade disappeared from his stomach and darkness creeped the edges of his vision. Ash fell forward and saw the boots of his supposed attacker as they walked away, he reached for them. However, he was so weak. Eventually the darkness swept over him.

Ash opened his eyes. He couldn't seem to move his body and couldn't see anything. Was this the afterlife. Did his actions condemn him to a purgatory of some sort? As he was thinking that a blue box appeared in front of his face.

 **[Hmm, yes you will do nicely.]**

Darkness overtook Ash once more, for him to never awake again.

…..

"Weiss, what happened. You just drag Zelle in here and tell us that he collapses for no apparent reason. What's up with that?"

"I hate to agree with Yang, Weiss, but it is quite strange that you brought him here instead of the infirmary. Speaking of, we should probably take him there now."

Ash heard voices. They sounded familiar. Where was the pitch black? He could feel his eyelids were closed and light was peering past them. Who is this Zelle they were talking about? Shit, his head felt like it was splitting. He tried to move, but it felt like his entire body was numb. His body seemingly not responding to his actions.

"There isn't any need for that. As a fellow Schnee, I simply can't let people randomly handle my relative."

A sigh was heard from the first voice. "Seriously, you're on about that again? Let it go Weiss. Other than the white hair there is nothing that makes you two look like each other. I understand that you believe that he is some long lost distant relative or something, but there is too much shrouded in mystery here for your story to make any sense from what we've seen."

Zelle was beginning to panic. Fuck. The White Fang got him finally. They must be negotiating with Weiss whoever this Weiss was for him to go free. He needed to find a way out and fast. However, the splitting headache was doing him no good in thinking of a good way to escape. He didn't have any dust on him, so glyphs were out. The more he tried to think the more it hurt.

"I think I have a way to tell it's him."

"Oh, do tell."

"Ash should have had a birth mark on his left hip from what mother used to talk about. If we look for it and it's there, will you believe me then?"

"Maybe, but now I've got other things on my mind." Ash could practically hear her smile. "Momma is interested."

"Yannnggg." The second voice finally spoke up.

Ash began to panic badly. Move, you stupid body. MOVE!

He heard footsteps approach wherever he was lying down at. He heard the shifting of clothing as the woman reached out. With as much effort as he could muster, Ash opened his left eye. He saw a beautiful blonde girl with lilac eyes reaching for the waistband of his pants. Their eyes met and the blonde girl froze, hand in midair. The hand quickly retracted itself behind her as she gave him a large smile that almost made her eyes close.

"Hey there sleepy head. Nice of you to join you to join us in the land of the living."

Ash was confused. She didn't seem like a member of the White Fang. Then again, this could be used to lead him into a false sense of security. Straining his eye, he looked over at the owner of the other voice and saw a small girl in a red cloak and a skirt with black hair that had a red streak in it, and a girl with a very similar skirt and a scar over her eye with long, white, flowing hair. She reminded him a lot of pictures of Winter that his mother had shown him.

"What, grimm got your tongue?" Her smile seemed cheeky, as if she was in on some inside joke.

Just then he felt a weight on his chest and there lied a small black creature staring at him with emerald eyes. Those eyes. They looked so familiar. Just then his headache got twenty times worse, tears stained his eyes. The blonde girl looked unnerved by this for a second and before anyone could react, Ash got control of his motor functions. Screaming erupted from his lips, as his hands sought his head in some form of comfort. He began thrashing about. Arms and legs a flurry of movement. The creature quickly jumped off his chest.

" _The pain it hurts so bad. Why does it so much? Mom, dad, please help me! Why me? What did I ever do to deserve this kind of pain?"_

Yang took a step back, as did everyone else in the room. Including Blake who had been observing the entire situation from a corner in the room. Ruby was the first one to break out of her shock.

Weiss, Yang, hold his legs down. Blake, help me hold down his arms. We can't let him hurt himself!" RWBY jumped into action and each one tried to hold down a flailing limb. However, they vastly underestimated Ash's strength. Yang managed to grab one his legs but one could see her muscles strain as he attempted to move. "Holy crap, big boy here has a lot of muscle." Yang grunted out. Ruby managed to grab his arm and hold it down. Her body was shaking from the exertion she had to put into trying to hold his arm down though. Weiss and Blake weren't as lucky as those two. They didn't consistently put in hours upon hours into physical strength or consistently carry around a massive scythe-sniper rifle combo. So, when Weiss grabbed his other leg, she was kicked up into the air and smashed against the ceiling. Blake was a little better off and was thrown across the room over Ruby's head as Ash's arm jerked.

The ruckus had apparently alerted their neighbors as team JNPR opened the door to the sight of a downed Weiss and Blake while Ruby and Yang were attempting to hold down Zelle. Ruby heard the door open and saw team JNPR. "Guys, help!" Nora and Pyrrha didn't question it and quickly rushed to hold down their clearly delirious comrade. Nora grabbed the other leg and Pyrrha grabbed the other arm, along with Blake. Weiss got back up and froze his body to the bed.

Everyone was frantically trying to simultaneously hold down the freakishly strong boy at the same time trying to comfort him as he kicked and flailed. No one knew exactly what was happening.

…..

Zelle glanced around. He could almost taste the darkness. He was back where it all started it seems. He didn't think he died again. Unless he died from shock that is. Seriously, him being related to Snow White? Not likely.

His head swiveled around as he attempted to see something. Good news he was able to walk around this time. He felt his feet pad against whatever surface he was walking on. Really, he was waiting for the blue box and was killing time by waiting to walk around the seemingly empty space. This continued for who knows how long until the blue box decided to make its appearance.

 **[Error: Memory processing lapse]**

 **[Error: Soul print misread]**

 **[Re-integrating soul print, please stand by]**

Zelle was thoroughly confused. Soul print? What the hell does that mean? "Hey, what am I doing back here? I thought I was supposed to be reborn and live a new life. I'm pretty sure I didn't die again."

 **[Sorry User, It appears that there was an issue with some of the protocol and we are currently fixing the issue]**

Protocol? Wait, was his entire two years on Remnant a simulation. Did nothing matter? If he died would he just become another number to a program? Was he actually alive and thinking? Was he an A.I. waiting to be scrapped by the system? These thoughts swirled rapidly through Zelle's head. He could begin to hear his rapid heartbeat as his his skin began to feel prickly and hot. His hairs were standing on end as his breaths came short and quick very quickly.

 **[User has entered a panicked state, enacting protocol 411]**

Zelle felt something wash over him. He wasn't sure what it was but he was calm now, his mind slowly filtering away the negative thoughts. His breathing settled and the irritating feeling on his scan had completely washed away. Slowly, he felt utterly exhausted. So very tired. His body slumped before crashing to the floor. The darkness slowly took over Zelle's form till all that remained is the void. A blue screen appeared.

 **[Soul-Integration complete]**

 **[Overriding Soul Personality Matrix]**

The blue screen stayed that way for a while.

 **[Complete…]**

The blue screen disappeared, replaced by a purple box with white text.

 **[Added Skill: Advanced Glyph Semblance]**

 **[...]**

 **[I hate this]**

…..

Zelle had eventually stopped flailing about and had fallen back into what appeared to be a deep sleep. Team RWBY and JNPR were now sitting around as they discussed their current topic of interest. Zelle. Or more of, Yang was arguing with Weiss while everyone else listened.

"He's dangerous! He shouldn't be here! He is obviously too unstable to be able to handle the stress of being a hunter!" Yang practically yelled out, not worried about waking up her teammate in the slightest.

"He will be fine Yang. He is obviously going through a lot of stress after coming to realize that he is Schnee. I believe that he has a mild case of amnesia, but with my help, he should be back to 100% in no time." Weiss argued.

This had been going on for the past five minutes with Yang accusing Zelle of something, and Weiss defending him. Occasionally someone would try to comment but neither girl was willing to listen. Ruby was trying to pay attention but was glancing at Zelle's unmoving body. Blake didn't seem to care too much and was reading a book with some bandages wrapped around her knee. When she was sent flying, she had landed badly on that knee, though with her aura, she would be find in a few hours.

Team JNPR had varying reactions. Jaune seemed unfazed by the entire thing, thinking that the Zelle back in the initiation was much more terrifying than what happened now. Pyrrha was glancing worriedly back at the unmoving white haired boy. Nora was happily humming a song as she sat on the top bunk of the new beds that team RWBYZ had acquired. Ren was sitting in the floor, legs folded, meditating. Neither one of them seemed to care of this incident.

The back and forth arguing continued for another five minutes, with neither Weiss or Yang relenting on their ideals. Finally someone snapped.

"Stop!" Everyone was startled as they turned to look at the source of the voice. Ruby was looking at Yang and Weiss with tears in her eyes. "Just… stop." Her voice petered off at the end. Yang looked mortified that her baby sister was on the verge of crying knowing she was part of the reason while Weiss simply huffed.

"Up shut." A quiet voice sounded out. Pyrrha jumped as the voice originated from behind her. Turning around she saw Zelle looking at her weakly. Pyrrha looked around and realized no one else heard him. The room had descended into small talks among each other as Yang and Weiss refused to look at each other. Pyrrha was about to let everyone know that Zelle had woken up before he put a finger up to his lips. Pyrrha slowly closed her mouth and bent down while everyone began distracting themselves with whatever activity they could find in the small room.

"What did I miss?" Zelle said weakly. Pyrrha gave him a deadpan stare. He got everyone beyond worked up to the point where Yang wanted to boot him out of school and he didn't even know what he did. But Pyrrha was always the helpful one, so she indulged her fellow huntsman. "I don't know much but when me and my team came in you were flailing about screaming at the top of your lungs. It was most concerning." Her forehead scrunched as she looked at him in worry.

Zelle tilted his head, then weakly shrugged his shoulders. "Well it feels as though I just tried to wrestle an Ursa Major so that's a thing. I can't recall doing anything like that. Also I feel like I've seen you before. Well before the initiation I should say. I was going to comment on it when we were in the locker rooms but I felt the need to deal with your idiot captain" Pyrrha felt her stomach drop. She forced a smile to her face.

"Well, I suppose that is to be expected I have made quite a name for myself for winning the Mistral Regional Tournament for four years now." Pyrrha said, making sure to keep her voice even.

Zelle's face fell into one of confusion. Some may say he even looked constipated. "The who, what, where now? What does that have to do with anything? I've never been to Mistral before though the place definitely seems interesting enough."

"Well I also appear on the front of Pumpkin Pete's cereal boxes." Pyrrha's smile became a lot more genuine after his statement. Unfortunately for Zelle his time in seclusion left much to be desired for his social skills and didn't pick up on anything.

"Again, never heard of a Pumpkin Pete's. I mostly ate vegetables, wild game, and bread whenever i felt like buying some." Pyrrha was instantly intrigued and elated by this revelation. Elated that someone else didn't know who she was and would treat her normally and intrigued about what kind of life someone lived in order to not have normal food like burgers or chicken on a regular basis.

However their conversation came to a rude end as people began to pay attention again and saw that Pyrrha was leaning down towards Zelle with a smile on her face. Which would normally be creepy if Zelle's eyes weren't open. Before anyone else could react a blur shot past everyone and Zelle felt an impact him on the chest. Thinking it was Ryo being the bastard he was, he was getting ready to reprimand him only to stop himself as a bundle of black and red was trying to squeeze the life out of him.

Zelle looked weakly around the room and says, "so does anyone want to explain to me what happened and why Little Red here is trying to kill me through hugs." At that, Ruby quickly got up, a blush on her face that was close in color to Pyrrha's hair.

Ren decided he should speak up before Yang or Weiss could speak and began explaining the situation to him as everyone listened in, with Nora exuberantly filling in any details she thought he missed, which was a lot apparently. Thankfully, Zelle wasn't tired enough to believe everything Nora said and was able to make sense of what was being said.

Zelle sighed before slowly sitting up ignoring the the pain in his stomach. Sitting on the edge of the bed he looked at Weiss. "So I want to clarify a few things with everyone since you all are here and I feel like you all deserve answers." He looked around the room as he said this making sure he has everyone attention.

"One, Weiss, I am not this Ash person you think I am." Weiss opened her mouth to say something but Zelle held up his hand causing her to stop anything she was going to say. "My name is Zelle, always has. Always will. I know too well that you aren't going to drop the subject, but I needed to get that out there."

"Two, I owe all of you an apology." The looks he received varied from confusion, to outright disbelief. "I don't know what happened in initiation. I've been hunting Grimm for the past couple of years now and that has never once happened. It should never happen again as far as I'm concerned, but that doesn't excuse me for attacking my future teammates and fellow huntresses and huntsman so I'm sorry." He slowly got up and bowed his head towards his teammates. Brun taught him if you were truly sincere about something, this was the best way to apologize. He winced as he finally put his body perpendicular of his hips. It feels like he tried to burn his muscles with a fire glyph.

After a few more seconds he slowly rose up. He couldn't tell by people's looks with the exception of Pyrrha and Ruby if they had accepted his apology. He mentally sighed. He would have to make it up with his actions later on. After all, actions spoke louder than words.

"Lastly I would like you all to meet my companion." He reached behind him and pulled Ryo out of his hood. He never understood how he got there. He just sort of comes and goes. Seemingly appearing and disappearing as he pleased. Everyone except Ruby immediately got on edge seeing the small dog that had the bone plating and mask similar to the creatures of Grimm. "This little guy is Ryo. Say hi Ryo." Ryo looked up at him and Zelle could swear the little shit was giving him a deadpan.

Blake spoke up. "I-is that a dog?" Zelle found that curious. He never expected Belle to be one to stutter. She always struck him as the calm and cool type. At this point Ruby, Weiss, and Nora had begun to pet Ryo. Zelle found himself in a pickle. To lie, not to lie. That is the question. Tis nobler- ah fuck it, he is just going to pull the band-aid off now.

"Not quite, what you see here is a bonafied Alpha Beowolf. At that Weiss jumped back from Ryo as if he caught fire. Ruby already knew what Ryo was, having deduced the connection from the way he spoke and Nora rode Ursai for fun so she was undeterred from petting the fluffball. Everyone else seemed on edge at that.

Jaune gave a nervous chuckle as he could feel the tensions in the air. Seems like he was the only one that would be able to talk everyone down. "And why, oh why, in Oum's name do you have an Alpha Beowolf in a school that hunts Grimm, let alone as a pet."

Zelle shrugged. "I don't know, one day I woke up and saw this injured guy and was like man he looks hurt. I'm going to take care of him." Everyone, with the exception of Nora who was daydreaming of riding Ryo into combat, deadpanned. Blake felt the need to speak up again.

"Let me get this straight. You happened to wake up find an injured Grimm, nurse it back to health and then kept it? Either you have a death wish or are certifiably insane and I'm not sure which one concerns me more."

Zelle shrugged. "Well at the time I didn't know what Grimm were." His mouth immediately closed shut as he said that. Fuck him and his sincerity. He already sounded insane no need to give them more ammo by saying he came from another world. Well time to bring out the time and true excuse, even if it would give Snow White an edge in her argument.

Sure enough people were looking at him curiously. "Look, I apparently hit my head really hard. One day, I wake up on the edge of the Emerald Forest and little recollection of anything before that day other my name and what aura was." This lie has held the test of time for him thus far, though he could already see the consequence of his actions.

While Nora, Pyrrha, Ruby, and Jaune seemed unperturbed by his statement. The rest look at him with various looks. Ren, Yang, and Blake looked at him with undisguised mistrust while Weiss' eyes sparkled with barely contained joy. He had brief glimpses of who this Ash was. He remembered he was in fact a Schnee and that he felt like he should hate the White Fang, but he would rather not deal with that if he didn't have too.

"Look, this is a lot to take in. I understand that. Just sleep on what I said. I understand any mistrust or doubts about what I said, but Glynda." He abruptly paused. "I mean Professor Goodwitch can confirm everything I have just said. Now it's getting late. Just sleep on what I've said." Zelle patted himself on the back. He didn't need to make friends with everyone, just be cordial enough with them so they would be able to work together.

Everyone agreed to that and a few could see the pain that was Zelle was in and team JNPR left the room quite quickly after that. Zelle looked at his new team. "So since I wasn't here and you all decided to make the death trap beds, I'm assuming everyone has their own sleeping arrangement. RWBY nodded at this. "Good, well until I get me a hammock I'll be sleeping in the forge. My personal are is the door on the far end as you enter." Ruby wanted to protest, but if he was able to sleep somewhere, she was ok with that. She didn't want him to sleep in the floor after all. Weiss was of the same mindset, though the other two didn't care one way or the other.

With everything said and done, Zelle left and headed to his section of the forge. He probably wasn't going to get to sleep tonight. His hunter weapon was just about complete and his excitement to get it done was too much. He looked at Ryo who followed him and pet his head. He had a long night ahead of him, he better get started.

 **A/N: Thus, we have Zelle's formal introduction as a part of team RWBYZ. Hopefully I won't disappear for nearly as long as I did last time. Life sort of caught up to me and slapped me and the face and kicked me while I was down. But enough pity party. Hopefully, you all enjoy this chapter and will see you all soon!**


	8. Combat Class

**A/N:** **So there was a comment asking why a strength semblance when there is so many other things to choose from that I would like to respond too. For one, Zelle wasn't taking the situation seriously at all, so he decided to try and be a troll. Also Strength is interesting for me. It's a very broad term that has multiple points of views on what strength is. The best example I can think of is Wolverine vs. Hulk. Both are "strong" but for different reasons. For now, he can move and fight at a higher level than most of the other hunters and huntresses. Later I intend to show that his "Strength" semblance has more to it than Zelle is aware of.**

Combat Class

Team RWBY woke up bright and early as another day approached. They were only into their fourth day at Beacon and it has already been crazy stressful for the team. With a combination of initiation and the revelations about their male teammate. The team was mentally exhausted, with more than a few thoughts of skipping classes coming to mind. However, they got themselves up and began planning a routine for the mornings. As Weiss was using the shower Yang figured now would be the best time to bring out their absent teammate.

"So, what are your opinions of our male teammate?"

Ruby decided to voice her opinion first, "He seems really nice, with the exception of attacking us and all that. But he didn't really seem all in that control of himself." A slight blush tinted her cheeks as she remembered what Zelle said before he collapsed. Yang didn't seem to pick up on this though. Lucky for Zelle. She looked over to Blake for her answer. 

Blake added to this without looking up from her book, "while his+ motives and his reasoning yesterday appeared to be skewed, his apology was honest and heartfelt. He really seemed regretful for his actions. My only issue is his." Blake paused. "Pet. I can't see him being allowed to carry around a Beowolf in a school for hunters and huntresses."

Yang nodded in agreement and tilted her head down in thought. She had the same thoughts as Blake, and she assumed that Ruby would react that. She was too sweet and oblivious to blame Zelle for what happened. She wasn't though. Zelle was a threat to her and her little sister. If he decided that he was going to attack her and her sister again, she would do everything in her power to get him kicked out of Beacon or beat the shit out of him, whichever she could do first.

Weiss was also having an internal debate about their sole male teammate as she finished her shower. He had seemed so sure of himself saying he didn't know who Ash was. However, their resemblance was uncanny. Also the fact that Ruby had informed her that he had been using some strange glyph where he pulled his sword from during Port's class.

Hunters that used glyphs were few and far between. Most Schnees' semblance were advanced use of glyphs. While it's true that everyone could use them to an extent, It required lots of time and dedication to use, whereas Schnees were naturals at it. They just knew what to do.

Then there was what the glyph did that made Weiss forget all her doubts about whether he was her long lost cousin. According to Ruby, yes she may be a fool for trusting that dolt but her excitement got the better of her, he pulled a weapon from the glyph and then the weapon disappeared into another glyph. There was only one person ever that she knew had that ability. Her distant cousin, Ash Schnee.

He was considered a prodigy among the rest of the family and was talked about quite frequently during family dinners. Her mother always praised him for the speed and the complexity that he could produce glyphs. To be honest, it was a main reason why she could conjure glyphs as quickly as she could. She wanted that praise from her mother as well. But that all came to an end just four years ago.

White fang had attacked a northern Atlas mine, caving it in and 'releasing' the faunus who were mining there. They then went and attacked the Schnee mansion that Ash and his mother Kori lived. No one was left alive. Her mother had been good friends with Kori and after hearing of the accident, secluded herself even more than she had been to their gardens and had become an alcoholic. Weiss was left lost for the next year with the loss of her "rival", but was soon named heir and given a purpose to pursue again.

She shook her head, the water being thrown around her naked form as her hair waved. Those were bad memories. She came to Beacon to escape from her family and all the negativity that they brought her. Regardless, even among the other Schnees, Ash was the only one that had the ability to "store" using glyphs. Her mother assumed that this may have been a mutation of sorts to her and Winter's semblance to summon.

She groaned. This year was already stressing her out. She came her with the expectation of teaming up with some of the strongest of Beacon, become their leader and be top of their class for their four years at Beacon. She did not expect to get partnered with Ruby, for her to get pushed aside for the team leader position for someone much younger, and certainly not to meet a long lost relative, even if he did deny it.

She turned the shower off and began making herself presentable to go outside. A sigh escaped her lips. At least the shower was nice.

…..

RWBY had arrived with their sister team, JNPR as they headed to professor Port's class this morning. Ruby was talking excitedly and everyone else was listening as she rambled about how she was going to kick butt today during combat class. Today would be the first day of combat class with Professor Goodwitch. While Ruby was the most vocal about her excitement, everyone else was just as excited to participate in that class and show off their skills.

As the two teams arrived to Port's and got settled in, Blake happened to realize something as she glanced at the empty seat next to her. Her yellow eyes widened. Blake pulled on Weiss' sleeve, Weiss turned towards Blake and was about to snap at her when Blake whispered, "Weiss, we forgot Zelle."

Weiss' eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and she rushed out of the room followed closely behind by Blake. Weiss glanced at the clock. They had ten minutes to grab Zelle and get back. She was so glad that they had decided to get to class early today. The two quickly jetted past Ozpin as he came out of a corner. A smirk played at his lips and took a sip of coffee before continuing on his way. Footsteps falling into rhythm behind him.

Back in the classroom, Ruby and Yang looked at each other and then shrugged. They had also completely forgotten about their wayward teammate and assumed the other two forgot something back in the dorm room.

" _Hm, I wonder what those two will do when they realize that their teammate is not in the forge anymore."_ Ozpin mused to himself.

…..

 **An hour before class…**

Zelle had a large amount of sweat gleaming on his brow, dark bags under his eyes signifying his exhaustion. But it didn't matter now. He was beyond ecstatic. It had taken three months of designs, prototypes, testing, and failure, but he had finally done it. He looked at the mass of steel that could be called a sword.

The weapon was massive the entire thing being a little over 5ft in length and the blade width being a little under a foot. Rivets were were seen all across the sword, as well as two large indents in the center of the sword on each side. Laying next to it were six glass tubes holding hundreds of liens worth of dust.

Zelle admired the hulking mass of steel. He got his inspiration for this thing from fantasy games. Primarily the Final Gaea series. With his strength semblance he shouldn't have a whole lot issues wielding the weapon so using it was actually feasible. The rivets were there for it to take on different forms.

The sword could actually change into three other forms other than it's base sword form. The forms were heavily influenced on the dust he was using at the time. Explaining what they all did and the science behind it was too much work though, damn it. To be honest he was amazed he got the stupid thing working the way he did. This was his eleventh attempt at making the final sword. He had just finished testing the transformation and the it's durability to damage twenty minutes ago. He had been so close to giving up on it and reverting to a simpler design. But it looks like all of his hard work paid off.

The large indents on the side of the sword were actually docks for the glass tubes filled with dust. While not as diverse as Weiss' weapon in terms of dust usage, since his only had two slots, he had much, much more to use for his two that he could use at any one time. He had initially designed it to accept all six forms of dust. Fire, Water, Lightning, Air, Gravity, and Earth. However testing showed that he had to focus on which slots to activate and he would often get the wrong slot to activate to fuel his glyphs. He learned that the hard way. Glynda was not happy cleaning up the training room that day. Two was much, much easier to manage.

Zelle admired his handy work once more before picking up a tube filled with Lightning dust and he sticking it into the sword. Quickly metal plates began extending from the edges until the glass tube was tucked away behind a thin layer of metal. Zelle wasn't worried about the glass breaking. It was dust reinforced and could stand the weight of an Atlesian mech stepping on it. The metal plating was simply there to reinforce it and hold it in place. He flipped it over and stuck a glass tube of Air dust into the other slot.

Zelle picked the weapon and admired the blade once again before summoning a storage glyph and storing the weapon away. He proceeded to do the same with the other glass tubes. He frowned. He would need to do more strength training. While very gradual, he noticed that his semblance activated to use the weapon. His body was more lean from requiring the speed and dexterity needed to wield masa and mune. He had been practicing with larger weapons in preparation for this day, but seems his body wasn't quite where it should be.

Zelle pulsed his aura out and Ryo came out from under the desk he had been napping in. Zelle still wasn't sure if he actually napped, as he always woke up immediately whenever the need arises. Ryo then jumped and somehow managed to land in Zelle's hood. Strapping his backpack on, Zelle glanced at his scroll. He had been so lost in his thoughts that time passed much quicker than he expected. He only had twenty minutes to get to class.

With that Zelle took off, determined to at least get some biscuits and coffee before he made his way to the classroom. However his plans never seemed to go according to plan. As he turned into a corner, his body collided with another person and he stumbled back a few steps.

"Hey, watch where you are going you bastard!" The person he ran into yelled out. Zelle groaned. The semester had only started officially two days ago and the boy he ran into had already made a name for himself.

Cardin Winchester, leader of team CRDL. Also, the number one bully of the freshman of Beacon Academy. He was big. A head taller than Zelle and bulky. Combine that with his cocky grin and group of lackeys, who always followed him around, he was your typical high school bully. Zelle couldn't stand bullies, possibly due to his piss-poor social abilities in highschool and nerdy tendencies at the time had made him a prime target for bullies. So being bullied throughout his highschool years made him very adverse to that domineering attitude and caused him to have an instant dislike of people like Cardin.

"Hey, I'm talking to you bitch? You deaf or something?" Cardin said as he took a couple steps toward him. Zelle recognized this, he was using his size as an intimidation factor. Cardin looked down at him, that stupid smirk on his face. Zelle sighed, let's try to get past this without conflict first.

"Sorry, I was in a hurry to get to the cafeteria to grab some food before class and wasn't watching where I was going. Seeing that neither one of us are hurt, I'm going to go ahead and continue what I was doing." Zelle tried to step around only to be met with Cardin again.

"Hey, were not done here. You think you can just get away with running into me and getting away with it?" Cardin growled out.

Zelle felt Ryo stir in his hood, probably attracted by the negative emotions as people began to stop in the hallway to look at the interaction. " _Go away, I don't want to deal with an annoyed Ryo."_ He needed to diffuse this situation.

"Ok Cardin, what would you have me do?" Carding gave him a malicious grin.

"For starters you can apologize."

"I already did that." Zelle's eyes narrowed.

"No, I want a sincere apology. Head down, everything."

Zelle ground his teeth, fist clenching. Yeah, no. He wasn't going to take that shit. He would deal with the result of his actions later. He was preparing himself to wind back and deliver a punch to Cardin's gut then make a run for it when a voice cut across the chatter.

"Mr. Winchester. Mr. Zelle. Do tell why you are standing in the hallway instead of progressing to your classes?" Zelle turned his head and saw his unofficially favorite teacher heading towards him and Cardin. Students parted as Glynda Goodwitch strode pass them towards Zell and Cardin.

Cardin's smirk faded into a small smile. "Nothing Professor Goodwitch, me and Zelle here were having a nice chat. I'll be on my way now." Cardin left as the students began walking away, seeing as a fight wasn't about to start.

Glynda glanced at him pass her and turned towards Zelle, waiting a few moment as the students cleared out before a sigh escaped her lips.

"You know, if I hadn't stepped in you would be in trouble."

Zelle snorted. "Me and you both know that I would have wiped the floor with him."

Glynda adjusted her glasses. "Yes, and then you would be in detention or expelled for assaulting another student. We have been working on your less than desirable aggressive habits. May I need remind you that you leveled a gun at Ms. Belladonna's head just a few days ago?"

Zelle felt his gut drop. Yeah, he felt really bad about that. He didn't know why he acted so extreme. That was typically his reaction to grimm or surprises, he shouldn't have done something like that. He sighed.

"You're right, I'll work on it." Glynda simply nodded.

"Regardless, I'm not actually here to talk about pleasantries. The headmaster would like to see you. Something about you saying you were done with your weapon?"

Zelle was really confused. He was supposed to report his research and prototypes to Ozpin after he accidently created metal dust early on in his stay here. Apparently there were sub-types of dust that could be made by using a strong solution, not sure if acid and bases were things in this world, and mixing dust together, then placing the solution in extreme heat to evaporate the liquid, leaving the newly combined dust. However this was typically frowned upon as one, this process is extremely volatile even when using a small amounts of dust and has been known to kill people due to the resulting explosion. The second reason why is even after successfully finished, the dust tended to be unstable, in the sense that a lot of times it wouldn't work or was much more powerful than it should be, causing injuries and the like.

Zelle wasn't even aware of Ice dust when he made his fridge. He was playing with the dust grains in his bullet and mixed water and air dust into some water and the entire bowl froze over. He then asked Brune about it, who then bought him a 'Beginners Guide to Dust,' had Coco read that to him and the rest is history.

So far he had two patents on dust formulas that he got profits back on. Metal dust and lava dust. Both are apparently 100% stable, well according to Ozpin anyway. Zelle didn't know why it was so taboo. He only almost blew up his face twenty times before he learned to put something between his face and the mixture. Also with the exception of combat purposes, neither seemed that great to use. But he was making a little bit of money off of it, so he wasn't complaining.

"I really just got done with the sword today. Also, I don't think it's really all that great. If you want to seen an ingenious weapon I would check out Little Red's sniper rifle, scythe combo." Glynda began walking away with Zelle quickly falling into step. They rounded the corner and were met with Ozpin. He had an amused look on his face as he took a sip of his coffee. _"I swear my life has become a game of dungeons and dragons with an encounter at literally ever turn."_ Zelle couldn't help but think.

"Ah, Ozpin. I figured you would be in your office. No matter, here he is now. If you'd excuse me." Glynda said before turning around, heading towards her classroom.

Zelle stuck his hands above his head. "So what's up Dr. O? Have you continued your spying on your students?"

"Hm, if that is what you would refer to it as Mr. Zelle. I prefer the term observing. Now, let us walk and talk. I would rather discuss some things that are of importance in my office than the hallways."

Ozpin turned and began walking away. Zelle following a few steps behind. He heard what sounded like running as he turned another corner and saw that Ozpin had stopped. Zelle felt like he just missed something. Like he took a wrong turn to find the boss room and instead found a booby trap. He wasn't allowed to dwell on it as Ozpin continued walking.

Eventually they made their way up to his office. The elevator ride up was unbelievably awkward. Seriously standing next to this man already made his hair stand on end. They entered his office and Zelle noticed a steaming mug on the opposite side of Ozpin's desk. Zelle took a seat and took a sip of the steaming drink, enjoying the bitter taste of coffee touch his tongue.

Ozpin took his seat, and a comfortable silence settled between them. This used to be a common occurrence between the two of them when Zelle first came here. They would sit in his office and they would discuss classes and his time as guardian of Kirya over some coffee. A few more minutes passed before Ozpin finally spoke up. "Ash Schnee."

Zelle raised an eyebrow and made a flourish with his hand. "Oz, you really need to stop creeping on the students."

"Zelle, this is a serious matter and I would like for you to take it seriously. I'm even letting you out of Professor Port's class." Oz said with a hint of amusement. He was aware of his Port's teaching methods were less than ideal, but he has yet to show incompetence at his job so he was allowed to teach here.

Zelle sighed. "As I've told you when I first got here, four years ago I woke up in the middle of the emerald forest with my only memories being what aura was and my name, Zelle. I have no other memories of my past before that."

Ozpin bent down and opened a cabinet, took out a folder, and slid it towards him without saying a word. Zelle took it and opened it up. Inside was a picture of a boy that looked eerily like a younger him. Going down was a report about an attack that White Fang organized on an SDC dust mine in the northern reaches of Atlas and the subsequent attack on the Schnee mansion in that area. Then the deaths of all the staff and owner of the mansion. However, Ash's body was never found despite finding blood belonging to him in the master bedroom.

Zelle read through it again and glanced at the picture for a few more minutes. As he did this, Ozpin merely waited as he read through the report. Zelle looked up.

"Well this is certainly disturbing, if not morbidly interesting. But, my statement still stands. My name is Zelle, and I am the former guardian of Kirya. I am who I am now."

"Mr. Zelle, when you were brought here, what did you tell me your semblance was?"

Zelle knew Oz knew this, but decided to humor him. "My semblance is strength, the ability to augment my strength, increasing the amount of force I perform actions while my aura reinforces my body to handle the extra stress to even greater levels than what aura typically allows."

Ozpin nodded, his face not betraying his thoughts. "Yes, and do you know what the Schnee's family semblance is?" Zelle shook his head.

"Glyphs. They don't have to study or research glyph formulae in order to proficiently use dust glyphs. However, Schnee's also have a unique ability to be able summon fallen enemies. Winter Schnee, and her grandfather both had this ability, and if her grandfather is to believed, then his father and his father before them."

Zelle was confused as he answered. Where was Ozpin going with this?

"Eventually it was found that only the main branch of the Schnee could use this, while the rest of their extended family simply had a unique understanding and use of glyphs. All except one Schnee. He had a very unique glyph that no one had seen before. The ability to store and summon items on whim, where he simply had to use aura to fuel his ability."

Zelle's eyes widened. That was exactly what he could -

Ozpin folded his hands in front of his face as his eyes narrowed dangerously. Zelle felt a shiver work it's way up his body.

"So, Mr. Zelle. Who are you and what have you done with Ash Schnee?"

Zelle felt his body heat up and his hand twitch. He resisted making a glyph to escape and began to try and rationalize his way through things. He had kept the truth of his origins secret for the past 4 years. Now this man basically deduced that there was something wrong with him or with who he was within the matter of a day. He could tell that Oz wasn't going to buy the amnesia excuse again. Weighing the pros and cons he finally made his decision.

"Oz, what I am about to tell you can't leave this room." Oz stared at him seriously for a few more moments before he undid his hands and leaned back.

"You would even keep this from Brune and Glynda?" Zelle nodded.

"Very well. You have my word as Headmaster that anything said now will not leave this room." Zelle took a deep breath.

"You see, I'm not from… here." Zelle said waving his hand in the air.

"Correct, you are from Kirya on the edge of Vale's reach." Zelle knew what he was doing but continued anyway.

"Not quite, when I say 'here' I mean Remnant." Zelle took another deep breath. "I come from a place called Earth." Ozpin's serious face had disappeared and replaced with one of mild curiousity, or amusement. It was hard to tell on the man.

"And this Earth. What was it like?"

"Earth was different and similar at the same time from Remnant. The technology was very similar. We both could fly, had heli-craft, had similar weapons, had large land masses. Though that's about where the similarities end. Earth doesn't have aura, semblances, grimm, or dust. The only enemies of Humanity is humans themselves. Earth was in a state of constant conflict with several hundred different countries and something bad was always happening, whether it was war or a mass shooting." Zelle paused for a second.

"But I wouldn't have it any other way. I had a loving family and a girlfriend and was happy with my life. I was attending a school to become an engineer. To be honest I'm not sure how I got here. All of that seems so long ago." A slight lie, better to not give the full story quite yet.

Zelle turned his attention to Ozpin. His eyes a little watery. "That is basically the gist of it. I know it sounds absolutely senile and should probably be put into a mental institute but this is the truth. I wasn't really interesting so I will spare you my life story, but just know that is who I am. I am Zelle. I think I had a last name at one point, but I've forgotten it."

Silence dominated the room for a minute before Ozpin finally spoke up.

"I believe you." Zelle was bewildered and it must have shown because Ozpin continued.

"Zelle, something that you must know is that when you grow as old as I have, you have seen and heard many crazy and outlandish things that do not make sense to most." Zelle was confused. Ozpin couldn't have been any older than fifty. He saw he was going to continue so he didn't question it.

"That being said, I have a theory on what has happened." He stood up and walked over the window, cane in hand. "When you died, it seems your conscious was transferred into Ash's body. Why him specifically I can't say, but with the combination of his body and your conscious, it seems that a unique split was created resulting in two semblances being created. It also makes sense, as you have a great amount of Aura for your age. Jaune Arc, being a notable exception as well. But this isn't about him." Ozpin said before Zelle could interrupt.

Ozpin turned back to Zelle. "As agreed, this conversation will not leave this room. You may tell who you would like about this as it is your secret to share." All Zelle could do was nod numbly. His head trying to process what he has been told.

"Now I would suggest running along. I don't think Glynda would be too pleased if I kept you from combat class." Zelle nodded again and slowly made his way back to the elevator.

"Zelle." He turned around. "Don't think too much on this, as you said you are you."

At those words, Zelle couldn't help but give the aging man a small smile. "Thanks Oz. You always seem to always know what to say." Zelle feeling a little bit better let the elevator take him down the tower.

Oz just muttered under his breath as the door of the elevator closed, "if only you knew Mr. Zelle. If only you knew."

…..

Zelle took a deep breath. He will deal with his identity crisis later, right now he had to get through life. Starting with surviving Glynda. He pushed the door open only for him having to catch a flying body that slammed into him square in the chest. In his arms was a clearly irate Yang. He then heard a voice from inside.

"Ms. Xiao Long has lost this match due to knockout." Zelle heard from inside. "Return to your seat when you get your bearings Ms. Xiao Long."

"Yo, Goldilocks. You come here often?" Zelle smirked. Yang rolled her eyes.

"Are you going to put me down or am I going to have to beat you up to get down?" Zelle raised an eyebrow before unceremoniously dropping Yang on her ass and stepping over her to head in.

"Ow. Hey get back here jerk!" Zelle was then abruptly turned around at the door frame by a red-eyed Yang. Zelle idly wondered if that had something to do with her semblance.

"If you are two are done, then we can continue class." Zelle tilted his head back and saw a mildly irritated Glynda. Zelle felt his shirt get released as Yang moved past him, making sure to shoulder check him as she moved past him. The two moved up with the rest of their team, Yang taking a seat next to Ruby and Zelle taking a seat next to Blake, with the rest of their team in between the two.

Weiss leaned over and whispered harshly, "where were you this morning Ash?" Zelle rubbed his face with his hand. Be nice Zelle, you can't have your entire team dislike you, even if it seemed impossible for their leader to dislike anybody.

"I was meeting with Ozpin this morning. I finished my weapon today and he was curious of what I made." That caught Weiss and Blake's attention.

"Wait," Blake said. "I thought you already had your weapons."

"Technically, I do. However, they aren't the mecha weapons that you all have. They are simple katanas and a machine pistol. I had been working on a mecha weapon and finished it last night."

Before either could say anything else, Glynda's voice cut them off. "Mr. Zelle, since you were gone, everyone else has already sparred with the exception of you and Ms. Nikos. I trust it you have your equipment ready for combat class?"

Zelle bit back a retort. She knew she had everything on him at all times. Advantage of having a storage semblance that could hold a seemingly limitless supply of stuff. Everyone on the staff knew that by now.

"Of course Glyn-" Glynda's good witch glare cut him off. "Ms. Goodwitch I'll be ready in five." He then started making his way towards the locker rooms as Pyrrha did the same. The small smile on her face hidden from view.

While those two were getting ready for battle team RWBY was having a discussion with JNR on who would win.

"So, who do you think will win?" Yang asked idly.

"Ooo, ooo, Pyrrha will wipe the floor with Zelle!" Nora proclaimed loudly.

"I have to agree with Nora, while Ash has shown proficiency at what he does, Pyrrha is the four time champion of the MIstral Regional Tournament. It seems like he has little chance of winning." Weiss said with a hair flip for added flair.

"I actually think that is exactly why Zelle has a chance to win this." Ren said calmly. "He has the factor of being an unknown. He can use that to his advantage."

"Well I feel the need to support my partner, even if Zelle is a little scary." Jaune mentioned.

"Nah, he isn't all that bad. I also want to see Pyrrha wipe the floor with him after his little stunt," Yang said with no small amount of hostility.

"I'm going to believe in my team and say Zelle will win!" Ruby exclaimed.

Blake deadpanned at Ruby's attitude. "While Ruby's reasoning is completely unfounded, I will have to agree with Ren. He also showed great skill in what little we saw from him during initiation" A Hey! Was heard from Ruby. "Zelle has the advantage of being an unknown factor." Yang smirked.

"So were split four for Pyrrha and three for Zelle. How about we make this interesting. Whoever wins, the people who are betting on Pyrrha have to buy lunch for the losers and vice versa."

Everyone agreed to that, although Ruby did so more hesitantly. Eventually Pyrrha came out on her side adorning her normal greek-looking combat attire, Milo and Akouo strapped to her back. Zelle followed shortly after wear a dark green long sleeve shirt and tight fitting jeans with leather armor across his chest, elbows, and knees. On his hips were Masa, Mune, and Raiden.

"All right, I will repeat the rules since Mr. Zelle came in late. Both of you shall fight until either one of your aura levels reaches the red zone, or around fifteen percent of your total aura. The use of lethal force is frowned upon but is allowable as long as your opponent is above the red. At any time I may stop the match and declare a winner. Are both of you ready."

Pyrrha took out Akuo and Milo, putting Milo into it's spear form. Zelle merely took a low stance and grabbed the hilt of Masa.

"Very well, Begin!"

Pyrrha jumped back and turned Milo into rifle form, but Zelle wasn't going to let her get a few potshots in. She recognized his range disadvantage and it appeared that she was going to exploit it.. It also didn't help he had no training in dodging or cutting bullets, so he would just to run around like a dog with the attention span of a squirrel in an attempt to dodge the oncoming bullets.

Zelle took off forward, intent on not letting her get any shots in. He quickly gained on her and pulled out Masa swinging it upward intent on slashing her. She brought her shield up and blocked the strike. Zelle let his arm go out as he was forced to twist his body out of the way of a spear. The strike never came, the spear then struck him in the ribs and he was pushed back.

Zelle grimaced. He was used to fighting Grimm, where they charged him mindlessly. He wasn't used to feints or really intelligent opponents. He needed a second to re-evaluate this fight. Pulling out Raiden, he began firing electric rounds at Pyrrha who began running around him and block the rounds with her shields that got too close to her. Zelle used this time to come up with a plan.

" _Think brain. She has the range advantage with that rifle of hers. She is obviously more experienced with combat. My only chance is to possibly overwhelm her with brute strength or do something surprising."_

With his mind made up, Zelle unloaded his clip which was caught by a storage glyph, only for another storage glyph to appear to the side of his raised weapon. It disappeared, leaving a new magazine for Raiden. Pyrrha was using this opportunity to charge at him. Her arm holding the shield had started to go numb from the amount of lighting rounds she had to block. He was firing surprisingly accurate shots. She needed to deal with that.

Zelle saw her charging and pray she kept up the speed. Spinning on his feet, he reloaded Raiden as the magazine was falling and keeping his rotation, he brought up Masa and swung down.

Pyrrha was confused by the spin as his entire side was exposed. She thrust her spear out, when she felt her danger senses kick in. She saw his katana heading straight towards her. She narrowed her eyes as time seemed to slow down for her as she activated her semblance, tilting the sword, so it would deflect off the top of her shield.

Zelle didn't feel his sword turn slightly as he saw his sword inch towards Pyrrha. _"Max strength!"_ His arm glowed green as their two blows connected. Pyrrha managed to land a hit on his side, right under his armpit. Zelle's however scraped the top of Pyrrha's shield as the blade passed over her head, however Pyrrha didn't take into account that Zelle wouldn't budge to her strike this time. The sword continued on, sparking on the shield, before it landed against her extended spear. Metal clashed against metal before Pyrrha was sent sailing uncontrollably. She skidded to a stop near the edge of the arena.

Zelle glanced at the screen while there was a lull in combat. Him and Pyrrha were still in the green but were nearing the yellow but not quite there yet. He looked at his sword and saw that his trusty blade had a large gash in it. He was lucky it was made so well or else it would have broken. Dropping the sword, blade facing down, he created storage glyph that it disappeared into.

Pyrrha was slowly standing up. She had not been expecting that much force to be thrown at her. While she managed to hold on to Milo, she wasn't sure if she should have. She had been sent flying and she couldn't right herself due to the awkward angle she got thrown.

Meanwhile in the stands, everyone was stunned. This no-name guy had actually managed to, while not directly hit Pyrrha, sent her sailing. Which was impressive for someone to do to the untouchable warrior.

"Whoo, go Zelle. Kick her butt!" Zelle glanced over and saw Ruby standing up and cheering for him and Blake waving a little red flag with the words fight on it. Zelle almost lost his footing. Where did she get the flag from?

"Break his legs Pyrrha!" Nora yelled, with the Jaune and Weiss joining in on the cheers. Zelle gave a small smile as he saw Pyrrha had picked herself up. Pyrrha smiled back. "Hey Pyrrha, it looks like we got some fans."

Pyrrha nodded. " Yes it would seem so."

"So, how about we give them a show?"

Zelle pulled out Mune. Pyrrha took a crouching stance and slowly began to move towards Zelle. Zelle let her get a little closer before walking sideways, never taking his eyes off Pyrrha. Finally Zelle kicked off the ground, and began running at Pyrrha. She waited for him and jabbed at him. He deflected the spear with Mune and went to strike Pyrrha but she simply brought her shield up to deflect it. This continued for another thirty seconds, with each strike becoming more viscous as they side-stepped or deflected each strike that came their way. Finally, Pyrrha struck a punch with her shield hand catching Zelle in the sternum after she dodged a series of bullets from Raiden.

Zelle coughed as the shield struck him. However he was currently circulating aura through his body, reinforcing it. Zelle grinned and quickly dropped his weapons as he grabbed her arms. _"Times 4!"_ He yelled in his head as he picked Pyrrha up with her arm and threw her over him, slamming her into the ground. What he didn't expect was her to recover so quickly and the jerk of his arm, pulling him towards her where he was met with a kick to the face disorienting him as she then used her other foot to shove him away.

Zelle quickly gathered himself as he was about to get up but was met with the face of a barrel of a rifle as he was about to get up. Pyrrha was staring him down with a small smile. "I believe that this is my win Zelle." Zelle looked her in the eye and replied with the most serious face.

"Well it would be, if those were my only weapons." Pyrrha's eyes widened and only years of honed instincts allowed her to roll away in time as a loud crash. Where she was standing was a large sword, much larger than Pyrrha had seen before. Zelle smirked. He had created a storage glyph while she was waiting for him to surrender high in the air and dropped his newest sword.

Zelle picked himself and pulled the sword out of the ground and hefted it onto his shoulder. "So Pyrrha." Five yellow circles with intricate writing formed behind him. "What do you say to round 2?"

Pyrrha barely had time to react as one of the glyphs drastically reduced in size and fired an electric arc at her. She dodged out of the way and took a knee as she took a couple shots at Zelle who simply moved the large weapon in front of him causing the bullets to deflect off it. Pyrrha was forced to dodge again as another bolt arced towards her.

Pyrrha was thrilled. She was being pushed by an opponent, her aura had finally dipped into the yellow after he slammed her by the tiniest of margins. She never had anyone press her this hard before. Pyrrha began running at Zelle and dodged a few more bolts. As she reached him, she noted that the glyphs disappeared. She began rapidly striking at him with spear strikes and Zelle was doing his best to block him but it was apparent to Pyrrha that he was unused to this weapon. Zelle knew that he was getting close to losing. She had been doing a lot more damage to him and some of the strikes she had dealt could have been fatal had it not been for his aura. He tilted his sword to the side to deflect a strike only to feel another hit his hip. Her strikes were shallow, he couldn't block all of them. He was still too clumsy with this weapon. He could feel his aura slowly depleting. He needed space to attack her with Glyphs. He wasn't capable of combating her with her superior melee skills.

He took three more hits before he was able to slam his sword into the ground. A large green glyph that took up half the arena before quickly shrinking to surround Zelle. Before Pyrrha could question what happened she felt a massive gust pushing her back, she held her balance but was slowly pushed back. Everyone in the stands ducked as the wind strongly buffeted them as well, knocking quite a few of them out of their happened for another thirty seconds before he let it up, however Pyrrha was ready. She threw her shield directly at his head. Zelle attempted to pull his sword out but felt way more resistance than there should be as he tried to pull it out. He couldn't react in time to dodge and the shield slammed directly into his face. A small buzz was heard as Zelle hit the ground. His head was ringing. 

Slowly lifting himself up on his elbows, he faintly heard Glynda call the match. Looking up at the board he saw that his aura was in the red and Pyrrha's was barely in the yellow. While his impacts were good, it was nothing like aura blocking a piercing strike though. He saw a hand in his face and saw Pyrrha reaching a hand down towards him a smile adorning her face. Zelle smiled himself as he took her hand and she lifted him up. With a thought Zelle stored his weapons that were lying around the field.

"Good fight, Zelle. It's been a while since someone pushed me like that." Zelle raised an eyebrow.

"I only got you in the yellow. I could barely touch you." Pyrrha nodded, but didn't elaborate.

Glynda's voice cut Zelle's questioning off. "Great job both of you, but there are always things you can improve on.

"Mr. Zelle, this should go without saying, but you shouldn't use a new weapon in a battle with an experienced fighter. You did good at the beginning by evaluating your opponent's strengths, but once you got close you had no strategy and began attacking as if you were attacking a Grimm. This trend continued, with the exception of your throw, that led to your defeat." Zelle nodded. It made sense, this was his first fight against an actual human opponent.

"Ms. Nikos, while I understand you had the upper hand most of the fight, you got cocky when engaging Mr. Zelle in melee. Instead of looking for workarounds you simply engaged head on, intent on forcing melee when you could have whittled him down from a distance." Pyrrha nodded at that. She may have gotten a little too excited in their brawl.

The bell rang signifying the end of class. Everyone began leaving the classroom. Zelle was about to change when he was stopped by a cloud of roses. "That. Was. Awesome! You were all like 'shwish. Pew, pew, pew. Kabam!'" Ruby exclaimed.

Zelle couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm. "Thanks Little Red, much appreciated." He reached out and rubbed her head, much to Ruby's embarrassment. He heard a growl and looked over and saw Yang had growled at him. Zelle was a bit taken aback. He dropped her earlier cause she asked him too. He figured she would have been ready to catch herself. She got in his face.

"What the heeee-" she glanced at Ruby. "What is your deal man?" Zelle took a step back. "My deal?" Yang nodded her head. "My deal is that I don't have a deal cause I have no idea what deal I made." Blake and Weiss snickered though they were quickly shut up by a red-eyed glare from Yang. She turned back to Zelle.

"First, you attacked us in the Emerald Forest, then your fit yesterday, and now you're flirting with my sister!" Yang yelled. Her hair seemed to start glowing. Zelle took a deep breath to calm himself. Before he came to Remnant he was typically the mediator for his friends, let's hope he didn't get rusty or he might get decked.

"Yang, listen to me for a second." Zelle said as calmly as he could. "I'm sorry for what happened in the forest, I really am. I remember nothing from what happened other than what I've been told. I don't remember my fit either, as you put it, but I assure you neither of those things will happen again. As far as I'm aware I did not know that the ruffling of one's hair was considered flirting. If it helps, I won't do it anymore."

Yang had begun to calm down as she listened to him talk. Seeing that his words seemed to be the truth she decided to let it go. For now. She sighed and said, "Fine, let's just not make a habit of losing control or else I'm going to have to take you out with a yang!" Ruby facepalmed, Blake and Weiss groaned, while Zelle just looked confused.

"I don't get it." Zelle said. Yang looked like someone had just slapped her mother. RWB were just slack jawed that Zelel missed the very obvious pun. Yang attempted to speak, "Y-you know I-I replaced my name w-with bang." Zelle's eyes widened and nodded his head. "Oh, that makes so much more sense now." Everyone could tell he was being serious.

If Zelle was honest with himself, he never got puns. It was one of those things that just flew by over his head every time one was made. He had plenty of friends that had made them but never really got them. A wave of sadness rushed over him as he thought about his old friends but as soon as it came, it was gone again. Speaking of not knowing things.

Zelle looked over to his team leader. "Hey, Little Red I have an idea for something us to do tomorrow." Ruby looked at him curiously as well as everyone else. "Seeing as I don't know you all very well and you all don't know me, we should rectify that while you all show me around town since I'm not from here." Ruby, seeing what he was getting at, let a megawatt smile appear on her face.

"Team RWBYZ! We are going to Vale tomorrow!" Her cheer was infectious as Yang smiled, and Weiss and Blake allowed a small smile to adorn their faces. Zelle simply looked into space, recalling something that happened with Ozpin.

" _I never told him I died."_

 **A/N: So I stated at the beginning of this chapter that Zelle can fight at a higher level than most hunters/huntresses. So why did he lose to Pyrrha? The answer is quite simple really. Experience. Zelle has very little experience fighting another person and wasn't use to that type of combat. However, if it was a contest between Zelle and Pyrrha to see who could kill the most grimm, Zelle would win by a landslide. Review what you think of this and the chapter and I will see you all next time!**


	9. Introduction to Vale

**A/N: I really don't have much to say this time around so just enjoy the chapter!**

 **Introduction to Vale**

Zelle woke up with a small sweat. He blinked and sat up, stretching as he did so. He slept in the forge again as he still needed to get a hammock to sleep in the room. He wasn't willing to ask any of the girls to share a bed with him and the floor was worse. Zelle glanced at his scroll. 4:47. He sighed. It feels like he has been doing a lot of that.

He stretched feeling his back pop satisfactorily as he did so. Before he came to Remnant he would sleep for hours on end on the weekends. Often times sleeping half the day away. He felt a pang in his heart as he pushed those thoughts aside. When he was in Kirya, he got up extra early to catch game before hunting Grimm. Now, it was just a force of habit.

Breakfast wouldn't start for another hour, which means he had time to get some practice in with his new sword. Still need a name for it. Zelle changed clothes in the forge and made his way out where Ryo started padding next to him. He really needed to keep a better eye on the Grimm. Zelle turned and entered his passcode to the training room. He got down to the arena and set the robots to passive and called for six of them. Six training robots came out and stood at attention in a semi-circle. Zelle got into the arena with Ryo trailing after him.

"Stand back Ryo, I'm going to be testing the swords forms." Ryo backed up well behind Zelle. Zelle shook his head, for being mindless, Ryo was a terribly smart Grimm. Zelle summoned a storage glyph and the handle of his sword came out and he grabbed the handle and pulled it out.

Pouring aura into the first trigger, the tip separated in half and split apart until there was a four-inch separation between the two pieces metal, causing the sword to have an awkward jut out at the end of the blade. With miniscule amounts of aura a large amount of electricity began jumping between the two pieces. Zelle liked to affectionately call this form the tazer.

Concentrating Zelle sent a small zap of electricity outwards in all directions in front of him. It was nowhere near as powerful as his lightning glyphs, but it was made with the ideal of having more options for incapacitating enemies.

The two jutted pieces came back, and the entire thing began moving outward. Eventually his sword now looked like a large bat with an eight-inch diameter hole at the end. He pushed his aura into the air dust and a second later, a blast of air fired out the end of the sword destroying two of the training dummies. Zelle whistled that was much more powerful than the simulations suggested. This was his mid-range weapon. It was essentially an elemental cannon. However, some elements like earth, metal, and lightning weren't very good with this. Lightning was too unstable and the denser elements like earth and metal just jammed the device up that stored the dust before firing. The design was made to contain the element before release and to make sure it actually fires in the general direction he is aiming. It also could be used as a literal bat in case he couldn't get it changed back in time.

The sword began folding itself back until it looked like a sword again, with one exception: there was a quarter inch that was open on the edges of the sword. Applying some aura the sound of whipping wind could be heard. Zelle charged and began cutting through the robot. A sound like a chainsaw cutting through metal before Zelle ripped through the bot, bisecting it. He had a few cuts on his hands and arms. He quickly deactivated that form, leaving it in that base form. That was an experimental form. He didn't actually know what it would do until he had made it.

Zelle continued murdering the robots while Ryo watched on passively. After an hour, Zelle turned off the robots and begun practicing his sword swings, turning off his passive ability. If Zelle concentrated enough, he was able to stop his semblance from activating without his consent. Glynda helped with that. He continued this for a couple hours, going through stances and practicing his swings, getting a feel for his new weapon. Finally having enough, he decided to clean up and get some breakfast.

…..

Zelle glanced at his clock. It was close to 9:00 after all his stuff was done. He was staring at the door. They hadn't called him, he actually remember to grab their numbers so an incident didn't happen like yesterday, so that means that they were either not awake or were still getting ready. He lightly knocked on the door. Waiting a moment, he knocked a little louder this time. Assuming they were asleep, he decided to get some work done.

…..

It was nearly twelve when the text finally came. Zelle managed to get his homework for the weekend finished. It took him a while for some of the larger words, but he dealt with it. Looking at his phone, scroll, thing. He saw it was from Little Red.

"Hey, where are you?" Zelle snorted. Cute, she used proper grammar when texting.

"In ta libry, wbu?"

"What?" Zelle held in his laugh.

"im in the library, are you all up and ready to go?"

"Oh, yeah! Wanna meet us by the bullheads?"

"Be there in 10"

Zelle turned off his phone, not phone, and mozied his way down towards the bullhead docks. He arrived to see his teammates all wearing what appeared to be their combat clothes. Zelle looked down at his jeans and dark grey collared shirt, then back to them. Do they have any other outfits than their school clothes and their combat clothes? Tucking that question for later he waved at the girls.

"Yo, hopefully I didn't keep you waiting too long." Zelle commented amicably.

"Nah tiger. You got here just in time." Yang said with a large grin. Zelle nodded. He really couldn't get a read on Goldilocks. One moment she is flirty and then next she is ready to deck him. Maybe she was on her period? His thoughts were interrupted however.

"All right team RWBYZ, operation get to know each other is a go!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly. Her excitement seemed contagious as everyone gained small smiles. They boarded the bullhead in relatively comfortable silence, once they landed, Weiss asked the golden question.

"So, what now?" Everyone turned to Zelle.

Zelle shrugged and said, "Well, this trip is to two pronged. It's to get to know each other and grab me either an air mattress or a hammock. With that in mind I say we get some lunch, and maybe play some games before we take care of business."

Everyone agreed to that. So that left the question of where to go. Thankfully, Yang was very well versed in the city life and had led their group to a nice cafe. Yang got a fruit smoothie, Weiss got tea, Ruby got a hot chocolate, while Blake just settled for water. Of course, Zelle was sipping at his coffee. His fourth cup today in fact.

"Since this was my idea, I will start off. My name is Zelle, no surname. I was formerly the guardian of a small village by the name of Kirya on the outer edge of the Emerald Forest. My likes are coffee, studying dust, money, and puzzles. I dislike sour tasting things, racists." Zelle noticed Weiss twitch. "And standing. Let's let everyone go before we ask questions." Zelle caught Ruby as she opened her mouth.

"Oh, oh. I'm next!" Yang said rather loudly. "My name is Yang Xiao Long. Me and my little sister Ruby came from a little place called Patch. I like puns, partying, and knocking the heads off grimm, and my hair! I dislike people touching my hair, sexists, and sexual harassers."

Ruby opened her mouth to go, but before she could she was cut off by Weiss.

"As you all know by now, I am Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. I come from central Atlas. I like singing, art, and my sister. I dislike bigots, and the White Fang."

Short and eloquent, just as one would expect from one that is the equivalent of a noble. Blake's eye narrowed her eyes when Weiss mentioned her dislike of the White Fang. Curious.

Ruby was about to speak again, before she was beat to the punch.

"My name is Blake Belladonna. I used to live in Menagerie before coming here to Vale. My likes are reading, relaxing, and fish. I dislike racists, the SDC, and dogs."

Ruby and Yang looked as if they were just shot. Zelle just chuckled. "All right Little Red, you can go now." Ruby recovered admirably.

"My name is Ruby Rose and I am your all's team leader! Like Yang said, we're sisters and we come from a small island off the coast of Vale called Patch. I like cookies, Yang, Crescent Rose, my dad, my uncle, Zwei, my friends."

Zelle ended up half-listening as she continued to list off more and more things. He was staring intently at Blake. There was something about her that he was attempting to piece together. She was hiding something but, but what it is, is the mystery. However his thoughts were broken as he heard Little Red mention her dislikes.

"And I dislike bitter things." Was she glaring at his mug? "Grimm, and my friends getting hurt." Zelle wanted to just squeeze her to death, she was so innocent.

Zelle clapped his hands once gaining everyone's attention. Taking a sip of coffee he continued on. "Now that we know a very base amount about each other, let's do this. A person can ask a question to another, however that person doesn't have to answer it obviously if it makes them too uncomfortable. If the person answers the question, they can ask a question back. The person who asked the first question may not take consecutive turns. Can everyone agree to that?" A round of nods was the answer to his question.

The questioning started out innocently enough. Questions like favorite color, what your home was like, and any pets. But apparently, food being brought out was enough to bring out the serious questions. Zelle took a bite of his pasta, enjoying the creamy sauce on top, when Yang asked him a question.

"So Zelle, how did you meet Ryo?

Zelle saw this coming. Reaching back he felt his hands grab a bunch of fur and pulled Ryo over his head. He saw everyone stiffen seeing the small grimm.

"You all have already met him but this is Ryo. He is an alpha beowolf that apparently has the ability to shapeshift." Zelle informed them, while stroking Ryo's fur. "I actually found him in the Emerald Forest when I woke up. Having forgotten what Grimm were, I had seen this big fella injured. Obviously he tried to attack me but being the nice guy I am, I simply incapacitated him and fed him. He then followed me around and I gave him a name. I didn't realize he was a Grimm until I made my way to Kirya."

"Damn," Yang said leaning back in her chair. Zelle nodded.

"Sounds crazy, I know. I also would never try it again after knowing what I know now." Yang chuckled at that.

"Can't say I fault you there. So what's up with his eyes and fur. It's not like any other grimm I've ever seen." A round of nods were joined in by this statement.

Zelle shrugged. "To be honest I'm not sure myself. There's a lot about him I don't know but I'll tell you what I do know. He is technically a Beowolf, but he is much more intelligent than other Grimm. I actually wouldn't be surprised if he understood this entire conversation."

RWBY looked at him in varying levels of disbelief. "That's not possible, right? We've always been taught that grimm are mindless, soulless beasts?" Weiss voice her opinion.

Deciding Zelle would do better to just show them what he meant than attempt to explain, Zelle decided to just demonstrate. "Hey, Ryo." The grimm looked up at him.

"Do you like dog food?" Ryo shook its head back and forth. "How about deer?" Ryo bobbed its head up and down. "GOIs?" Ryo continued it's bobbing. "Who is your favorite person out of the girls here."

Ryo turned his head towards the girls causing them to gasp before he hopped off Zelle's lap and underneath the table causing RWBY to stiffen. Blake yelped and everyone looked over to see Ryo was sitting in her lap looking up at her. Anyone could tell that she was extremely uncomfortable, so Zelle decided to save her the distress.

"Thanks Ryo, you can go back to sleep now." Ryo hopped off her lap and in a surprising feat of strength for the small grimm leaped into Zelle's hood. Zelle looked back to the astonished girls faces, though Blake's was bit unnerved.

"So, yeah. Ryo is really smart." No one could really argue with that so they just nodded.

"All right Yang my turn." Zelle narrowed his eyes at her. "Why do you have such a big problem with me." Yang lost her cheerful attitude in an instant. Silence descended among the group as the two stared at each other.

"You want the truth? Fine." She flipped her hair back. "You are an unknown. You came out of nowhere toting around a grimm. Then you attacked us during initiation." She saw him flinch and look down but she wasn't done. "Despite being a Guardian, you make a bunch of mistakes that could get you killed out in the field and don't seem to have any sense of camaraderie, as if you are here because you have to be." Yang finished with her arms crossed.

"To be honest, that is all correct. I didn't go to a combat school and my style is based off fighting certain types of grimm over and over throughout the years. Though I'm going to argue about the camaraderie since I'm willing to let you learn about me. Finally, I did come from nowhere. I just can't remember. Amnesia, remember?" Zelle said with a cheeky smile. Yang couldn't help but blush and turn away from a mixture of embarrassment and something else she couldn't identify.

Conversations continued as planned and everyone got their desserts. Ruby was munching on some cookies, Yang had a strawberry cake, Weiss got a sophisticated looking parfait and Blake was eating a dark chocolate cake. Zelle wasn't that big fan of sweets so settled with a cappuccino. It wasn't coffee, but it was close enough.

Zelle decided it was time to direct the conversation to the team. As Blake finished explaining her book Zelle spoke up. "While it was nice getting to know you lovely ladies, I think we need to discuss combat capabilities."

Ruby picked up for him. "I think we should inform each other of our semblances as well as our weapons and preferred methods of combat. For example, my semblance is speed. I can cover all distances with my baby Crescent Rose as it is a high impact sniper rifle and scythe combo."

Yang followed up. "My semblance is the ability to tank hits and then dish them out twice as strong." She said and slamming her fists together. "I use shotgun gauntlets called Ember Cecilia and prefer to fight at a close range."

Blake went next. "My semblance is the ability to create incorperal copies of myself. I can also infuse dust to give my clones more versatility. For example, a fire infused clone would explode. I mostly use this to confuse my enemies and attack vulnerable points on my opponents with my weapon gambol shroud which is a katana and the sheathe can also be used as a blunt weapon. I could be considered a short range specialist.

"My semblance is Glyphs. The ability to summon intricate seals that can cause varying effects. I prefer to use Ice glyphs but am proficient at using all types of dust. I prefer to fight at mid-range using my dust-infused glyphs from my weapon Myrtenaster. However, I am no slouch when it comes to melee combat either." Weiss stated haughtily.

"Guess it's my turn. My semblance is strength. I can use this to augment my base strength by a designated multiplier. Currently, I max out at fifteen times my strength. My primary weapons are a katana and a machine pistol, Mune and Raiden." Masa was beyond repair. He would have to reforge the entire weapon to get it back and it just wasn't worth the time or money when he was working with a new one. "However, I just finished a great sword that I'm in the process of learning how to use. Guess that means I'm a front-line brawler."

Zelle scratched his hand. He didn't really know where he belonged in a formation. Everyone else already knew their strengths and weaknesses. It made him feel a bit useless actually.

"What about your glyphs?" Weiss and Ruby asked at the same time causing them to look at each other.

Zelle blinked. Weiss could already use them so what did that matter? "Well I've been practicing with them for a few month with Glynda. Currently I am proficient with lightning and air glyphs. I can use the other dust elements, except gravity, but they take longer for me to set up." Ruby nodded.

"That means you could also be mid-range support like Weiss and assist by firing lighting at our enemies like you did with Pyrrha or hinder our enemies with air." Zelle blinked, he had never thought of using air dust as a debuff.

"You know Little Red I will have to look into that when we get back. You are actually really smart." Ruby sent him a pouting face.

"What does that mean?" Ruby exclaimed rather loudly. Zelle just chuckles as did Yang.

" _So if we're thinking in rpg terms, we have five different classes. Ruby is our ranger, able to cover long distance and is still proficient at melee. Yang is our barbarian, able to tank damage and deal it out. Blake is our rogue, going for vitals. Weiss is our Sorceress, attacking and buffing with her glyphs. And I guess I'm a dark paladin, being a heavy hitter and having offensive glyphs. All we need is a cleric and we would be one of the most balanced parties ever."_

"Nothing Little Red. Zelle got up and everyone else followed suit. They had spent almost two hours at the little cafe.

"So, who's ready for some games?" Zelle said with a smirk.

For the rest of the day, team RWBYZ simply had fun. They visited the arcade and park and just did whatever they felt like. However, all must good things come to an end, and end it did as night approaches.

They just finished dinner at a burger joint before they called it a day and began to head back. As they arrived to the bullheads Zelle remembered what he actually came to get from Vale.

"Fuck." He said. Earning him glares from the rest of his compatriots. "I mean darn." He said with a nervous smile. "I forgot the hammock. I need to head back real quick. If you all want to head back I already have a place in mind."

"Actually, I forgot something as well." Blake said. "I'll go with you." Everyone agreed to that but Zelle noticed Weiss sending a suspicious glance toward Blake as they left. Maybe she got the same vibe as him? "Oh, wait Snow White."

Zelle reached into his hood and pulled out Ryo. "Do you mind taking him back to the dorms with you all? My neck has been starting to ache from carrying him around all day" Weiss looked uncomfortable but gingerly grabbed a hold of the small grimm and carried him awkwardly to the Bullhead.

"Thanks, I owe ya one." Zelle said as he walked off with Blake as the other three boarded a Bullhead. Zelle and Blake began heading back towards Vale.

"So, what did you forget." Zelle asked lazily.

"Nothing, I just didn't feel like leaving you alone." Blake replied.

Zelle turned towards her and sent her a questioning gaze. "While I appreciate the thought and may not have went to combat school like the rest of you, I can handle myself."

Blake shook her head. "It's not that. I just feel like there's something wrong tonight. As if something bad is going to happen."

Zelle didn't feel like commenting so they traveled the rest of the way in silence. Finally they arrived to their destination. Grimm Hovel. A store that dealt primarily in dust rounds and weapons.

"Isn't this the gun store tha Ruby dragged us too?"

"Mhm. I noticed they sold camping gear and noticed a special dust infused hammock that I figured would suit my purposes." They entered the store and headed to the upstairs area. Sure, enough there was a dust infused hammock that is made to resist hail storms, despite vale rarely getting any and intermixed ice and fire dust crystals for heating control. Zelle twitched as he looked as he looked at the price.

He could buy three or four more containers of dust for that much. He wasn't hurting on money though and he needed, actually really wanted, it. Blake was examining some climbing gear when the two met up to head back downstairs.

"All right boys, hurry it up! We have ten minutes before the silent alarm alerts the police! So chip chop." Zelle and Blake heard the sing song of an all too familiar voice. One that had been all over the news. They looked at each other and nodded, but not before Zelle handing Blake a fire and gravity dust crystal. Peeking around a corner. Blake couldn't help but let out a gasp.

A group of goons in suits with red ties and shades were robbing the store and standing in the middle of the aisles was Roman Torchwick directing them. "Blake, we need to do something." Zelle's hand was twitching. He was resisting the urge to summon his new sword. Something inside him was urging him to attack Roman but he had nothing personal against him. Maybe it was his sense of justice?

"I agree, but we don't have our weapons on us. That puts us at a disadvantage."

"True, but we need to get out of here or deal with them. I think we might be able to take them but as you said you don't have your weapon and I would rather not destroy the store with the rocket locker."

"What should we do then?" Zelle looked around and saw that they had containers of Dust in tubes they were piling up. Zelle smiled. "I have a plan."

…..

They were finishing up it seems. They had waited three minutes where they've collected almost all of the dust in the store. Blake was at the back of the shop waiting for Zellle to begin the distraction. Once he heard the crash of the locker landing, he was supposed to engage. For now though the distraction. He had put on an advanced air mask that was used by high-altitude pilots. It covered his entire face so he would hopefully not be identified. Seeing the last of the dust packed up he took this chance and activated several glyphs and quickly stored it and stepped out of his hiding spot.

Of course, everyone drew their weapons at him. Eleven blades and gun barrels were pointed towards him and Roman decided to approach him.

"Well well well. What do we have here? A hero to save the day perhaps, or a civilian at wrong spot at the wrong time?" Roman said with a smirk.

" _All right, Zelle you can do this. Just be evil… I never did play those characters very well."_ Zelle told himself in an attempt to hype himself up.

Zelle chuckled, coming out muffled through the mask. "I would like to think of myself more as a potential partner."

Roman raised an eyebrow. "And what would big Mr. Airman have to offer little old me?"

"Well for one, your dust back." Roman, who hadn't been paying attention to what happened looked around and saw all the dust containers gone.

"What did you do?" Roman snarled, his attitude doing a complete 180.

"My semblance is the ability to store things Mr. Torchwick. As long as I can see it, it belongs to me." Zelle blinked under the mask. While trying to be evil, he made a great point. His glyphs didn't leave any residue and as long as he could see what he wanted, he could store it. Damn, he went into the wrong profession.

Roman stared at him for a long moment. "So you have our containers with you then?"

Zelle waved his hand and one of the six containers of dust appeared from the glyph. Roman whistled.

"Well, would you look at that. You weren't kidding. So what is it that you want exactly kid? Oh, I would make your answer quick before my compatriot stabs you."

Zelle felt something sharp poke him in the back of the neck. Slowly turning his head, he saw a girl with black and pink hair with dichromatic eyes. One being a slight red and the other being a pale purple color. She was quite the short one, barely coming up to his chest. She was probably just a tad shorter than Little Red. She was wearing a white jacket with pink highlights that covered her chest. There was a black under shirt covering her midriff. She wore black pants and white knee-high boots.

She saw him look back and waved at him. She was holding an umbrella that had a blade on the end pointed at the side of his neck. Zelle turned back to Roman.

"Like I said, I want to partner with you. As you can see, my semblance would be instrumental in assisting with your heists, all I want is a cut of the pay." Roman began laughing hysterically at that, lasting a good thirty seconds.

"Look kid, you seem nice and all but let me tell you I'm not-" Roman was cut off as a crash was heard outside causing the ground to shake slightly. "What was that?" Roman narrowed his eyes.

"I guess that is our queue to leave Mr. Torchwick and madam." Zelle moved swiftly rolling around the blade and dashing out towards the back entrance. "My offer still stands." He called behind him. He heard Roman curse and tell his men they needed to leave. He threw the door open and threw the mask off where he saw Blake with her weapon.

"We need to intercept them at the front." Zelle summoned Mune and Raiden and the two of them quickly ran towards the front. When they got there though, all they saw was two vans speeding away.

"Damn it." Zelle muttured. He didn't expect them to move so quickly. He felt a hand on his shoulder and heard Belle say, "Zelle, I know your upset but we should probably get out of here before the police arrive."

Zelle nodded stiffly and they hurriedly made their way through the streets. Just a couple minutes later Zelle heard sirens driving past them. Glancing at his scroll, Zelle gained some grudging respect for Roman. It was exactly ten minutes since the heist started.

The two made their way to the Bullhead dock and boarded the first one they could get.

"Don't beat yourself over it too much. You will cause your hair to turn grey." Zelle raised an eyebrow.

"Was that a joke I heard?"

Blake shrugged her shoulders with a small smile on her face.

"Oh my God. The stoic Blake Belladonna made a joke, what has Remnant come to?" Blake giggled and Zelle smiled.

"You should do that more often Belle. You have a lovely laugh." Blake felt a little heat come to her cheeks.

Her blush left though as a question came to mind. "Hey, Zelle."

Zelle looked up from, wait was he changing the formulae for a glyph? That wasn't possible right? Seeing Zelle look at her got her mind back on track. "You have nicknames for all of us and I was wondering why you chose those name in particular. I can understand Ruby's and and Weiss' but I don't get mine and Yang's."

"It never came up, but all of you remind me of fairy tales that I vaguely remember. For example yours is from beauty and the beast. About a woman able to look past stereotypes and see the inner beauty of a man turned beast. The woman's name was Belle, or in our language, beauty." Zelle explained.

Pushing down her blush at her nickname Blake continued her questioning. "I don't think I've ever heard of such a story actually. If there's a book it sounds like an interesting read."

Zelle nervously began to rub his hands on his pants. _"Shiiiit, I didn't think this all the way through. The only source I know of is Disney and I'm pretty sure that doesn't exist. Nor am I sure the Brothers Grimm stories exist. All right, time and true excuse don't fail me now._

Zelle tapped his head. "I actually don't remember if there are any stories about Beauty and the Beast, or well, any of the fairy tales actually. I just know that I know, somehow."

Blake nodded her head. It actually didn't make sense why he was able to remember a fairy tale he heard but not even his own name. "So what about everyone else?"

"Well let's see. Little Red is based off of Little Red Riding Hood, except she kills the big bad beowolf." Unknowingly he let a fond smile appear as he talked about Ruby. Blake picked this up and felt a gut wrenching feeling. Frowning, she figured it was just the Bullhead motions despite never having shown signs of motion sickness before.

"I do actually know of this one, it fits her perfectly actually." Zelle allowed himself a smug smile and a nod. Note to self, there may be more parallels between Remnant and Earth than he was first aware of.

"Goldilocks is based off of Goldilocks and the three ursai where a girl with golden hair stumbles across a house in the woods that belong to a family of Ursai, eats their food and trashes their place, then crashes on the bed. The Ursai get angry and try to eat the girl and the girl escapes. However in Yang's case there would be dead Ursai all around."

"To be honest I just chose Snow White because of her hair and attire. I can't remember much about Snow White other than she was naive girl who ate a poisoned apple from a stranger as the main points." Blake allowed herself a small chuckle. Here she was thinking that all of their nicknames had some deep meaning.

Their conversation ended as the Bullhead landed and the pilot kicked them off. They arrived back at the dorm to see the rest of their team laying about. Zelle told them of their adventures while Blake got comfortable reading.

"You must have one hell of an unlucky streak to forget the one thing you needed and then encounter Roman Torchwick." Weiss commented.

"Are you kidding that sounds awesome! I want that orange haired meanie's butt again!" Ruby exclaimed. Zelel felt like there was a story there.

"I'm glad that you both are all right but I agree with Ruby I would love to kick that guys aaaaa-" she glanced at Ruby, "butt."

"By the way, you did give the dust back to the owner, right?" Weiss asked with her hands on her hips. There was a good chance that was her family's dust and she knew they were already taking a major hits on profit due to Roman.

"Of course. I'm not some thief like Roman." Zelle said completely forgetting that he did in fact forget to give back the crates of dust that he had stored.

Weiss let out a breath of relief. "Well it's getting late, so I suggest we get ready for bed. Zelle nodded and began setting his hammock up between the two bed. He then summoned a thick rope and used some fast acting super glue to the corner of the roof and wall on each corner of the bed. That way the beds had little to no chance of falling over.

When he finished and dusted off his hands, Yang and Ruby were complaining that it was only ten and it was the weekend but Weiss wasn't having any of it. Eventually they were cowed by Blake who intervened due to their loudness disturbing her reading.

Zelle smirked as he maneuvered himself into his hammock. This year was definitely shaping to be interesting. He couldn't wait to see what the future held.


	10. Bullies: Part 1

**Bullies: Part 1**

 **A/N: Someone was asking about the effects of GOI's on Ryo. They do affect him, but no he doesn't get gain their attributes. It will come up in later chapters so I won't get too into it now. For now, enjoy the chapter!**

Three weeks have passed since team RWBYZ venture into Vale. They quickly got into a routine and adjusted to their classes. Zelle would be the first up and would train in one of the many empty training rooms and take a shower over there. They would then all meet up for their first class of the day. Run through classes where Zelle had to enlist the help of Weiss and Blake to assist him with the schoolwork, as he still had difficult with Remnant's writing system.

They hung out with team JNPR a considerable amount during this time. Having gotten to know each one of them individually. Ren way a pretty quiet guy that would really only speak when he had either a strong opinion or had too. Nora was a bouncing ball of energy. Zelle swore that if Nora and Ruby were left together alone, Beacon would have collapsed. Pyrrha was overly polite and yet and could kick everyone's ass to next Sunday. Jaune was, well, normal. Everyone had a major quirk, except Jaune. He was the only one that acted like a normal teenager.

Everything had gone pretty smoothly with a few hiccups here and there. Ruby had attempted to get out of doing homework by having Ryo eat it. Zelle got a haircut to remove his black tips. Jaune was getting bashed during combat class. Oh, wait that was happening now.

Jaune was bent forward breathing heavily. His head was still facing towards his opponent Cardin who was looking at him smugly with his mace on shoulder. Cardin had been Jaune's opponent the past three classes. Surprisingly it had been Jaune initiating the fight choices, despite losing every time.

Jaune got up and dashed at Cardin attempting a lunge at his stomach. The telegraphed attack was easily dodged by Cardin who then used both hands to swing his mace. Jaune managed to bring his shield up in time to prevent the mace from hitting him, but the force launched him back and lost his grip on his shield.

Pulling himself up, Jaune gave a warcry. Bringing his weapon up he attempted a downswipe with his sword which Cardin easily blocked. Jaune grit his teeth trying to overpower the much larger boy.

"This is where you lose Jaune."

"Over my dead-" Jaune took a knee to a gut and the handle of the mace to the head knocking him over. Zelle winced when he saw that. Head shots were always the worse as they dazed the opponent for a moment and was a good way to start a combo. Cardin lifted his mace up to finish Jaune before the buzzer announced the end of the match, forcing Cardin to stop his strike.

Zelle contemplated the match. Jaune was improving fast, but it didn't make sense why he was so bad to begin with. Wasn't this supposed to be a school for the best of the best hunters? According to Glynda anyway. His thoughts were broken off as he heard Glynda call his name.

"Yes, professor Goodwitch?" Zelle asked

"Cardin would like to spar with you considering his aura has only gone down marginally. Seeing as you two haven't fought yet, this would be opportune." Zelle sighed at her explanation. He had been avoiding the known bully like the plague. Whenever he was near him, Ryo got agitated and made Zelle's skin feel prickly.

Zelle simply nodded and stood up. As he passed his team, he heard encouraging words from his team, including a good ol' 'kick his ass' from Yang. Zelle stepped into the arena, not even bothering to change into his combat gear. Glynda didn't say anything about this, used to his lack of care regarding his state of dress.

"Are you both ready?"

Zelle simply summoned a glyph and pulled his still unnamed sword out. He really needed to get on that and swung it around once with one hand before planting it in the ground. It was currently loaded with his favorite dusts, air and lightning. Cardin took a wide stance, mace hefted upward.

"Begin!"

Cardin charged with a warcry. Zelle sighed. He was making this too easy. He created three glyphs floating over him and began launching blats of condensed air at Cardin. The first volley struck and blew him back, though he managed to keep his footing. Cardin tried again and the same result occurred. Zelle had yet to even move yet.

"You know this isn't going anywhere right? A direct assault won't work on me like that." Cardin grit his teeth and charged again.

"Shut up!"

Zelle merely facepalmed and pulled his weapon out and turning it into his cannon form. Aiming it with one hand, he fired. Cardin couldn't hold on. He was blasted off his feet, as his armor crumpled in on itself. He hit the ground and continued rolling until he fell off stage.

"Victor by ring out is Zelle."

Zelle checked his aura reserves. 97%. That was much better than his 78% when he fought Yang. She could take a hit, lots of them actually. But man did he love his air blasts. You could barely see it coming and it hit like a freaking truck. It didn't work very well against people who could actually weave and he would need his lightning glyphs to land a hit, though those didn't deal as much damage.

Zelle simply shrugged and was about to get off stage before Glynda asked, "Mr. Zelle, considering you finished your opponent quite quickly, would you like to have another duel with another student. We still have plenty of time in class."

Zelle was going to decline and realized there was one person that he actually hadn't fought yet. Zelle stopped walking and slowly turned around. "Actually yeah. Let's do that."

Glynda was caught off guard, Zelle typically refused those offers. With the exceptions of his team and NPR, he typically had little to no trouble with the other students. Typically removing them from the fight quickly with his glyphs. But he had already fought everyone on his team except-

"Oi, Little Red. Get down here!" Everyone turned to look at Ruby as she looked around confused and pointed at herself. "Yes, you! It's time for your evaluation." Yang shuddered when she heard that.

The last time she heard that, she had been blasted by what felt like hundreds balls of air until she got blasted off the arena. It didn't matter how much she powered up, he would always create larger blasts of air to keep her away from him. That fight ended fight with some light bruising on her end.

Weiss and Blake also looked mildly uncomfortable. While his melee prowess was mediocre, his glyph expertise could rival that of Glynda's who was known as the Witch for her extensive knowledge on the subject. He was also highly creative. He beat Weiss by destroying the landscape with earth dust causing her to constantly have a gravity glyph activated to stay steady, before he began destroying her glyphs with an odd blue lightning, forcing her into a melee. She had to focus to maintain her glyph and fight him. With her diverted attention, she ended up taking the flat of the blade to the body knocking her out of the fight. He hit almost as hard as Yang.

Blake actually managed to beat him. She had been able to outmaneuver his glyphs and get in close and avoid his deceptively fast attacks. But it was by a hair. While she didn't take any direct hits like Weiss, she took several glancing ones that still hurt. She ended up winning when he accidentally struck a fire clone when making a sweep, and she managed to get him to forfeit by holding the blade to his throat. Her aura had been close to seeping into the red regardless.

Despite witnessing those fights Ruby couldn't help but get excited and quickly zipped her way into the changing room. Zelle smirked and looked at Glynda. "I'll be right back, I think I will need to change for this one."

A few minutes passed before Ruby made her way out excitedly clutching Crescent Rose. To be honest, she had been wanting to fight Zelle since she saw his fight with Yang. The opportunity had never presented itself until now. Zelle came out shortly after, wearing his leather armor. His sword hefted on his shoulder.

Once both on stage, Glynda prepared to start the match.

"Ready."

Zelle hefted his sword in front of him, in a ready stance. Crescent Rose unfolded into its scythe form and swung it around a few times before planting it in the ground to where the barrel was pointed towards Zelle.

"Begin!"

Ruby immediately began unloading shots at Zelle who simply raised his sword to act as a shield, the bullets bouncing off the thick steel. Three light-green glyphs appeared behind Zelle and behind firing small concentrated blasts of air at Ruby in return.

"Eep!" Ruby screamed. As she pulled Crescent Rose out and rolled out of the way before taking a knee and firing a couple more shots at Zelle before unloading her magazine and sticking one in with a black marker in. She swept her scythe in front of her dispersing a second volley of condensed air blats. Her weapon being large enough to disrupt the attack.

She pulled her Scythe back when she saw something peculiar. The sword opened in the center revealing the dust cylinders that Zelle sometimes carried around. It popped out and was caught by a storage glyph. Zelle held the sword out and a cylinder of fire dust appeared out of another glyph which he caught in the indent. The metal then folded back up.

Ruby couldn't react to capitalize on her opponent reloading. Zelle had never changed out dust in the middle of a fight before. Though, she needed to act now while she still had a sliver of an opening. Pulling the trigger, she launched herself towards him at crazy speeds.

Zelle brought his sword up just in time, even still he had to tilt his head back to avoid the sharp curvature of the scythe. They had a battle of strength before Zelle threw her off, causing her to skid back away from him.

Ruby disappeared in a petal of roses and it was only years of battling hordes of grimm and honed reflexes that allowed him to duck under the whistling scythe. He turned to see her hovering in the air with her turning with her scythe rotated all the around. He attempted to retaliate, his sword flying a short arc towards her. What he didn't expect was at the end of her swing, she fired another round behind her, causing a sudden change in momentum straight towards him. He tried to bring his sword up but wasn't quite fast enough.

The scythe blade struck his throat and bit into his throat, mere millimeters from his throat, the only thing keeping him from his death was the thin veil of aura. With a tug, he was pulled off his feet and sent into a tumbling mess.

" _So this is what it feels like when I do this to people. Maybe I should do this less… nah."_

He skidded to a stop and began coughing. Glancing up he saw that one attack docked him a quarter of his aura. Jesus. What was this girl made of, solid iron? She was looking at him worriedly, as he continued his coughing fit. She decided not to attack him. It took him another thirty seconds to stop his coughing fit.

"That was a good shot Little Red. But it's my turn." After he finished saying that, six emerald glyphs appeared around him, encompassing his body. Four around him and two above and below him.

Everyone was surprised by what happened next. With a deep voice that barely sounded like his at all, Zelle spoke.

" **Unum corpus terrae."**

The four glyphs surrounding his body had turned a brown color. Ruby stumbled as the ground shook slightly after he said that. She didn't know what was going on, but whatever it was, she needed to stop it.

Planting Crescent rose, she fired two shots in quick succession only to see them do nothing to him.

" **Veloces pedes fulguris."**

Ruby activated her semblance and in the blink of an eye, was in front of him swinging. Only for it to contact the brown glyph and bounce right off it. Ruby retreated by firing a couple shots at the glyphs sending her to the opposite side of the stage. She narrowed her eyes.

The glyphs above him turned yellow. When she struck the glyph, it felts stronger than Iron, so it seems like she was going to have to wait out whatever happens out. She didn't have to wait long, the glyphs simply disappeared. She looked around warily. As if waiting for something to jump out at her.

Everyone else was confused by what happened. Weiss was even confused as to what happened. She didn't know what those words meant or what purpose they served. The only one who had an idea of what was about to occur was Glynda, but she wasn't about to tell Ruby. That would be unfair.

"All right Little Red, round two." Ruby gripped her scythe tighter at Zelle's words but didn't say anything. Settling for taking the lull in battle, she too the time to reload her Scythe. The two stared off at each other before Ruby made the first move.

Activating her semblance she disappeared from view and was on Zelle. However, something different happened than last time. With lightning quick reflexes, he deflected the strike away. She disappeared again and the same thing occurred. Zelle blocked another two strikes before going on the offensive. Taking a step, he pushed off, creating a boom that followed in his wake as he chased after Ruby.

Startled, Ruby activated her semblance and another boom sounded. All people saw was a blur of red being chased across the field by a blur of green, creating a game of cat and mouse. Petals eventually rose up and Ruby fired several shots at the ground towards Zelle. Zelle nimbly moved out of the way of the shots.

Bending his knees he shot up at Ruby. She brought Crescent Rose down, attempting to get him before he reached her, what she didn't expect was the Scythe to make a grinding noise as is it attempted to bite into his skin and him to pass undeterred, slamming the tip of the massive sword into her stomach.

Their momentum continued however until they slammed into the ceiling. Everyone waited with bated breaths as they looked at the boards. Before Ruby had a large lead in aura reserves. Now Ruby was at 45% vs. Zelle's 55%. Two forms broke away from the dust of the ceiling. Ruby landed roughly taking a knee using Crescent Rose to hold her up. Zelle looked no worse for wear. Ruby stood up taking deep breaths. That last strike had knocked the breath out of her and chunked her aura. Taking out over 40% of her reserves with one hit. He hit as hard if not harder than Yang who was known for her 1 hit knockouts.

Before Ruby could come up with another plan, Glynda's voice cut across classroom.

"That's the match." Ruby looked towards Glynda and took offense to this. Did she think she was going to lose that easily?"

Glynda, recognizing this look shook her head. "It's not that you can't continue, it's that your teammate is going to be very sick in a moment."

Zelle wasn't listening to them though. His body was on fire. His legs were jelly. He had a massive migraine. It was like he had an awful case of the flu. He bent over and puked and tried to keep his balance. He could see a fuzzy Ruby a little ways away and could make out some voices saying things. One stood out though.

"Zelle, disable your glyphs right now!" Geez, Glynda didn't have to be so mean about it, with a thought, Zelle disabled his Enhancement glyphs and felt instant relief spread through his body. Though that didn't stop another wave of nausea to hit him and cause him to puke out his breakfast. He could hear the disgusted sounds of several students, most noticeably Yang and Weiss.

Zelle felt a hand on his back and glanced to see Ruby awkwardly rubbing his back. Zelle would've said he was fine if his whole body didn't feel like he had just gave himself food poisoning and the flu at the same time. Luckily he was saved from any more embarrassment when the bell rang.

"All right students, you are dismissed. Ms. Rose, please change out of your combat outfit before you leave. Zelle, you stay here." Glynda announced. Ruby looked uncomfortable leaving the unmoving Zelle, but reluctantly made her way back to the locker room.

WBY gave idle waves towards Zelle as they exited the combat room until only Glynda and Zelle were left in the room.

"Why in Oum would you use 'that' in a duel. You don't even have full control over the ability yet and you know the risks. When I taught you to use that, I never would have expected for you to use it on a classmate, let alone your teammate."

Zelle grit his teeth partially in frustration that he was being berated but also to stave off another wave of nausea. "I know what I was doing. I had nothing in my arsenal that could deal with that kind of speed. That was my only hope to win in a battle against her."

Glynda sighed tiredly. "Zelle, you are no longer a guardian." Zelle's eye twitched. He was still bitter that they attempted to strip his title from him. Apparently he shouldn't have had the title anyway as he wasn't a licensed hunter and after a heated discussion between Ozpin and Zelle, he managed to keep his title and the benefits that came with it. It was still a sore subject when brought up.

"There is no reason for you to do this to yourself all the time. You have plenty of time to get stronger. Just take your time with these kind of things." Glynda added softly. Zelle felt his stomach drop at her tone. Glynda had basically become his guardian when he came to Beacon and they had developed a soft spot for each other.

Zelle sighed tiredly. The nausea was slowly receding. "I know, it's just." Zelle paused and rubbed the back of his head.

"I have this 'feeling'. Before I left Kirya, over the course of three months before I came here, the Grimm there had slowly increased in numbers and level of aggression. It bugged me but I was keeping myself busy enough that it wasn't much of an issue, but now that I have time to think, I feel like it's an omen of sorts. As if something is headed our way." Zelle shook his head as he spoke.

Glynda stood there quietly as she listened. "Yes, but that's all behind you now. Your safe here." Glynda tried.

Zelle smiled, but there was no warmth behind it. "Then what does that make Kirya?" With that, Zelle turned around and planned to get some lunch. Professor Peach was never in, so being attired properly should be no issue.

Glynda watched him leave quietly. He had never told her about this. She stood there for a moment longer before making a decision. She would give Brune a call.

…..

"So, there we were. In the middle of the night."

"It was day." Ren interjected

"We were surrounded by ursai."

"They were beowolves." Ren cut in again.

"DOZENS OF THEM!"

"Two of them." Ren responded demurely.

"But they were no match. And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursai skin rugs!"

Ren sighed. "She has been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now.

Zelle snorted with amusement at the two's interaction. Seriously, how were these two not a thing yet? It boggled Zelle's mind a bit. His focus was averted from the two's antics as he caught Pyrrha's voice at the end of the table. They were currently finishing up lunch and from what Zelle could tell, Jaune had hardly eaten anything.

Zelle popped into his mind as he thought about his enchantment glyphs. He would need to get better at that. Apparently trying to do two enchantments at once was way out of his reach. He had only been able to hold it for a minute and a half. To be fair he could only hold one for three minute before getting hit by minor side effects but nothing as bad as today.

Zelle's attention was brought back as everyone was looking at Jaune. Zelle leaned over to Weiss and whispered, "I zoned out, what'd I miss."

Weiss whispered back, "Apparently Jaune is being bullied." Zelle nodded. He already knew about Cardin's treatment of Jaune but had figured he would let Jaune himself sort that out.

He heard a cry and he looked over and saw a female rabbit faunus ears getting pulled. With straight, long brown hair, a slim figure, and dark brown eyes, she was an absolute delight to the eyes of any male. The ears even added on to her overall cuteness, if they weren't being grabbed by the topic of their conversation. Zelle grit his teeth.

Zelle cut into whatever conversation Ruby and Pyrrha were having with Jaune. "Yo, Jaune. Pick a number between 1 and 10." Jaune looked confused as did the rest of the table.

"Um, six I guess?" Jaune replied. Zelle's grin turned feral as Weiss leaned away from him a little.

"Perfect." Everyone could almost hear Zelle's voice drip with venom and delight. It was quite hair raising. He suddenly stood up and Ryo appeared at his feet, seemingly appearing out of thin air.

Yang voiced all their concerns. "This can't be good."

…

Cardin was having a blast as he pulled on the ears of the bunny faunus. Her pleading to stop sounding like music to his ears and inflating his already huge ego. The rest of his team were joining about the faunus appearance and were laughing as they watched him bully the small faunus.

After this he would probably go harass Jaune again. That kid would never learn it seemed. All the better for him.

Cardin never saw Zelle coming. A strength enhanced punch sent him sailing over the table and crashing into Sky as the both crashed in a crumpling of limbs. The rest of his team were surprised as they never even saw him coming.

Zelle growled and whispered low enough so only the faunus could hear him. "Either move away or stay behind me." Cardin picked himself up.

"Heh, I was hoping to beat you in the arena later, but this is fine. You're nothing without that fancy sword of yours."

If Zelle wasn't bordering on murderous, he would've deadpanned.

" _He knows I went toe to toe with Pyrrha with my normal katana and machine pistol right?"_

"I see that you like those animals." Zelle could barely contain his rage and unbeknownst to everyone, black markings began to coat his right arm. "Maybe you should join them and learn your place."

Zelle calmed himself and simply summoned his storage glyph and a red dust crystal dropped into his hand. Cardin simply snorted.

"What are you going to do, blow us all up?" Zelle hummed.

"Not quite."

His hand began moving towards his mouth when a nasally voice cut him off.

"Mr. Zelle, that is quite enough."

Zelle glanced over to a wiry man with short dark red hair. He had glasses and his eyes were so squinted, he might as well have had his eyes closed. He was dressed like a tidier professor Oobleck.

His name was Professor Barry. He was a teacher to the third year students. He had also been watching the entire exchange between the faunus and Cardin and hadn't bothered to step in.

Zelle ignored the man's warning and crushed the dust crystal in his hand. The rest of Cardin's team jumped back as they expected the crystal to detonate as did the teacher, but after a moment passed and nothing occurred, Cardin began laughing.

"What, is that it, orphan?" Cardin mocked.

The professor didn't say anything as he cautiously watched Zelle's hand that was twitching as dust shards were falling to the ground by his feet. The rest of the cafeteria had fallen dead silent as they watched the interaction between the teacher and two students.

"Zelle, I believe a professor told you that was enough." The voice of Ozpin sounded as he stood with Glynda who looked on with a mixture of concern and sternness . Zelle looked over at them then back at Cardin who had cocky smirk on his face. Looking over to the table he saw his team and JNPR looking at him with various levels of worry and concern.

"Fuck this." Zelle said as he summoned another circle which cause professor Barry to take a defensive stance and Cardin to lose his smile. Ozpin and Glynda merely stood at the entrance to the cafeteria.

A small blue crystal landed in Zelle's off-hand, and clapped his his hands together. This resulted in a mass amount of steam erupting from the impact quickly encompassing the entire cafeteria. Shouts of shock and people trying to move in the thick steam began to fill the cafeteria. A few more minutes passed before the steam dissipated enough so people could see as the steam filtered out of the room.

Cardin and his team were on the ground unconscious and Zelle was nowhere to be found. "Well that was something." Jaune said, breaking the silence at the table. Just then Ruby's phone dinged. Ruby opened it up and saw that it was from Zelle.

"Hey guys, Zelle said he would come back tonight and to get notes for professor Peach's class for him." Everyone accepted that and got up to finish their stuff. Blake allowed a small smile to come to her face. She had her doubts about Zelle, but after that display, she couldn't help but like him a little more. It also helped he was easy on the eyes. With a little more pep in her step, she joined her team going to class.

…..

"Fuck Cardin." An explosion resounded as the sounds of dying Beowolves filled the air.

"Fuck that racist prick of a professor." A gleam of steel flashed, decapitating an ursai that had been trying to attack the rampaging man. A blur of grey and white slammed into an Ursa Major, tearing at it's throat

"Fuck Ozpin." A small quake was felt as a group of beowolves fell into hole that had formed out of nowhere. The same mass of grey and white tore into the Grimm that had avoided the hole.

"Fuck Beacon." Several consecutive explosions ate at the air as the last of the Grimm were wiped off the face of Remnant.

Zelle breathed heavily as he unloaded an empty canister and placed a lightning dust canister in its place. It had been an hour since he descended into the Emerald Forest after he lost his temper. He created a the cloud of steam, knocked out Cardin and his team and jumped out a nearby window.

Ryo stood next to him in his alpha form. It had been a while since him and Ryo had gone a good ol' murder spree. Zelle looked around and saw dozens of GOIs lying around. Zelle straightened up and began to collect the balls and began packing them into a satchel. He got his first Deathclaw kill, he just needed to remember where he buried it. He tossed three of the beowolf GOIs to Ryo who greedily ate them up.

After another five minutes of collecting the balls, Zelle stretched. He felt much better after fucking shit up. Slipping his hands in his pockets, he glanced up. It was going on three which meant that Peach's class would be ending soon. He sincerely hoped that he didn't have to deal with Cardin much longer. His distaste for the bully was borderline hatred.

Zelle considered himself a pretty chill guy. He disliked lots of things, like brussel sprouts and Grimm. But he hated very, very few things. He could name them on one hand really. A guy named Spencer in his past life, mumble rap, and bullies. Cardin definitely fell under that last one. A deep breath passed his lips. Ryo had turned back into his dog form and hopped in his hoodie. Zelle started heading back to Beacon. Hopefully the rest of the week would get better.

 **A/N: For those of you who might be curious the incantation translates to this:**

 **Unum corpus terrae: My body is made from the earth.**

 **Veloces pedes pulguris: My feet are swift as lightning.**

 **If that is wrong we can blame google translate. Something to keep in mind is that while Zelle is capable of using advanced forms of Glyphs, he still has to speak as it helps him visualize what he is doing, whereas more basic glyphs he can use freely.**


	11. Bullies: Part 2

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait again. I've been swept away in the river that is life. Seriously though, I have been quite busy but was happy to finish this chapter. It's short but I should have a chapter coming out pretty quickly after this one. As always enjoy!**

 **Bullies Part 2**

The sound of the clocktower clicked on by indicating each second that passed. Two figures seated across from each other stared at a board filled with chess pieces. The one across the desk made his move. The other figure quickly followed up, placing the black king into check. This begun a flurry of moves that led to the slow systematic destruction of nearly half of the black pieces. It wasn't even fifteen minutes later that the black king was put into checkmate.

"And it appears that it is my win yet again."

"I lasted much longer this time around though. I'll that as a personal win in my book."

"Well as much as I enjoy these pleasantries and the ability to take a break I do have to ask, why are you here when the rest of your peers are currently on a field trip?"

"You know well why I'm here Ozpin. The same thing that I always want, all of which that you apparently have answers for."

"The benefit of old age." The man snorted.

"Oh yes, and perhaps a second life on top of that?" The man leaned forward, into the dim lights of Ozpin's office revealing the lean face of Zelle.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean." Zelle's face scrunched up. Talking with this man was trying to get a straight answer out of a Sphinx. It wasn't going to happen.

"While you like to talk in riddles and half-truths Ozpin, you made one slip up. I never mentioned once that I died during our conversation a couple weeks ago." Ozpin merely took a sip of his coffee and stared neutrally at Zelle.

"So you decided that asking this question now while you should be on a field trip with the rest of your team was a smart idea?" Zelle merely waved a paper in the air.

"I got excused from Glynda."

"I swear that woman coddles you too much."

"I suppose that is the advantage of being her prodigy and personal student."

Ozpin pursed his lips. Another minute of the clock ticked by as the two men sat in silence. Ozpin finally broke it.

"I've been around much longer than you can know Zelle. I don't just mean reincarnation either." Zelle looked up at him questioningly.

"Perhaps later on I will tell you, but for now, know that I'm trying to help you the best I can. That goes for every other student at Beacon as well." Zelle stared at him for a few moment, mulling his reply over.

"I suppose that is… acceptable. That leaves me to the second reason, the reason that actually convinced Glynda to let me be excused." Ozpin simply raised his eyebrow.

Zelle rolled up his sleeve. The markings on his left forearm from before had been filled out. The swirls appeared to have become complex patterns that seemed to be chaotically spread across his forearm.

"The markings started looking like this after the incident in the cafeteria yesterday." Ozpin looked over the markings for a few moments before snapping a picture of his forearm on his scroll.

"I'll send these over to Oobleck and see if there is anything that he can find out along with the previous pattern we observed. Now I suggest your run along, judging by the note, you're only allowed to be late to the field trip."

A shallow nod and Zelle made his way with Ryo close at heels as he entered the elevator, intent on making it to the end of the field trip.

Ozpin turned towards the window, looking out into the wilderness of Vale. "What are you planning?" He whispered.

…..

Zelle had to admit, Forever Fall was very pretty. The orange and red leaves of the Fall trees could be seen for miles on end. That and with the distant mountain range in the background just made the entire place extremely scenic. The only thing ruining the image was the loud buzzing of the bullhead.

"Get ready to drop in a few. I'll let you know closer to time." The pilot's voice was heard over the com.

"Roger that." Zelle continued to enjoy the scenery when something caught his eyes. A large group of grimm all moving with purpose. It mostly consisted of Ursai and beowolves, but they were moving in too much of a hurry.

"Actually, circle back around. There seems to be a strange amount of grimm activity. Some students may be in trouble."

"Sorry kid, I got strict orders from Ms. Goodwitch to bring you straight to her." Zelle sighed. He took his headset off and dived out the Bullhead. It would only be later that the pilot would realize his passenger had decided to leave early.

The wind whipped at Zelle's face as he fell. Summoning his great sword. He reminded himself to talk to his team about a name for the damn thing, he fired a blast of air in the direction that he saw the Grimm go. Ryo was in his hood. Somehow he hadn't been thrown out by him performing air maneuvers. Zelle saw his point of impact. Righting himself for impact, he landed hard. 92% reserves. That was more than plenty.

Ryo got out of the hood and the sound of muscles and bones tearing and popping could be heard as Ryo transformed into his alpha form. With not a word made, the two began across the forest at breakneck speeds. They finally skidded to a stop and got to see Jaune decapitate an Ursa Major. Damn, that was pretty cool.

Jaune helped up Cardin, weird, and said a few words to him. However he didn't need that right now what he needed was the other three on the other side of the clearing. In an instant he was in front of them with a boom following in his wake. The three were startled, but made no move to attack.

"Heyyyyy, while I would love to stay and chat about how awesome this forest looks we have approximately thirty seconds before a hoard of Grimm overrun this area." Zelle said as quickly as possible. Their eyes widened and were about to say something when a beowolf jumped out from the brush, only to be cut down by Ryo with a swipe of his large claws.

Cardin confused asked, "Did that Grimm just kill another Grimm?" Jaune shrugged, he was use to Ryo's presence at this point and knew that he wasn't an issue.

"Yeah, his name's Ryo. Don't hurt him though unless you want to be hospitalized." Jaune paused and thought for a moment. "Or worse." Cardin gulped and nodded remembering when Zelle knocked him and his team out.

Another beowolf came out, this time it was shot down courtesy of Ruby.

"Everyone, we need to setup a defensive perimeter. The Grimm are probably being attracted to the sap. We need to hold them off while slowly retreating. Zelle and Pyrrha you all cover our back during the retreat. Me and Weiss will provide fire support. Jaune, we need to get you and Cardin out of here." Ruby commanded everyone. Zelle and Pyrrha nodded and took to the frontline with Ryo. Weiss went ahead and created a Glyph that fired ice spikes at Grimm whenever the opportunity presented itself.

"I can still fight!"

Ruby glared at him. "Jaune, you have a bruise forming on your face. That means your aura is low enough for you to take damage. Getting you and Cardin out of here is our first priority."

Jaune looked like he wanted to argue but decided to follow his fellow team leader's advice. Ruby turned her attention as Jaune and Cardin began to jog away. Firing a couple shots that tore into the Grimm. " Zelle, Pyrrha, we're moving back."

Zell summoned a green glyph blasting a ball of condensed air into the Grimm, creating room for the two to fall back, with Ryo right behind them. Zelle grit his teeth. There definitely weren't this many when he was viewing from the bullhead. Pyrrha was beside him and they made a mad dash through the trees, however they forgot that Jaune was still new to aura and they quickly caught up with the other four. Lucky for him, Ruby took charge again.

"Same plan guys. If you feel overwhelmed retreat back to Jaune and Cardin to regroup."

Zelle turned his weapon to cannon form and didn't wait for the Grimm to catch up. He fired several blasts that tore through trees allowing them sight of the quickly approaching Grimm. Zelle quickly counted at least fifteen beowolves, an alpha, seven ursai minor and two ursai major.

He continued firing blast after blast of condensed air as the rest joined in to hopefully thin the hoard coming their way. A blast of air completely crushed a beowolf as a sniper round took off the head of another. Ice spikes drove through an ursai minor. Pyrrha merely bided her time, well aware her rifle would not be able to do much damage in time. The hoard arrived in short order.

Quickly changing his weapon back to sword form, he bisected the incoming alpha. Ryo pounced an ursai and began tearing at it for all he was worth. Zelle had to deal with several more Grimm, dispatching them quickly. Battle continued on for a good five minutes before Zelle faintly heard Ruby tell him to get back, so turning his weapon back to cannon form, he fired another blast into the hoard to make his escape. Well that was his intention anyway. All he got was a click.

His efforts were thrown as a large force slammed into his back, sending him to the ground. Only years of fighting Grimm in the wild allowed him to roll out of the way of the crushing paw of the Ursa Major. He quickly switched his weapon to sword form and slashed his weapon at the ursa only for it to deflect off the armor. Something bit his shoulder which he quickly crushed its neck for its troubles. He quickly rolled backwards to avoid the ursa swiping at him.

Glancing warily around him, he was surrounded. Ryo was there beside him as well growling whenever something got too close. Doing a quick analysis of his aura, Zelle saw that he was at 65% still, despite that potentially debilitating bite. He couldn't hear any other fighting, which means the others had been able to slip away. Good, that means he could stop holding back.

Unloading a canister the Grimm growled at him, however they made no move attack him, yet. He quickly loaded it with a deep orange dust.

"Hey, Ryo what are the chances of getting out of this unscathed?" Ryo made a sound that was a mix of a bark and a growl.

"Yeah, I agree."

Then all hell broke loose.

…..

Pyrrha was the first to retreat, having gotten quickly surrounded she, managed to stall them by doing debilitating damage but after seeing that there were more, dispatched what she could and stalled for a good couple of minutes.

Weiss followed after her shortly. Weiss was playing support so as soon as her position got overrun she ran and took care of any stragglers that gave chase.

Ruby followed another minute after, albeit slightly out of breath. She had entered the fray and used her semblance to confuse the Grimm and take pot-shots where she could.

They waited for Zelle arrive. One minute passed, two. Pyrrha was the first to voice her concern. "Zelle knew to fall back right?" Her question went unanswered though as the rest of team JNPR and RWBY arrived.

Yang immediately went and hugged Ruby. "Ohhh, I'm so glad my baby sister is okay!"

"Yang, please stop." That helped lighten the mood but Weiss interrupted their moment.

"As much as I enjoy reunions, Ash isn't back yet." Weiss commented looking back the way they came worriedly. The fact that there wasn't a hoard of Grimm there was actually more worrying than there being a hoard of Grimm. Pyrrha's face hardened.

"She's right, we need to go back."

…..

Orange hot lava dripped from the greatsword as it entered form three. Zelle could feel the heat radiating off the sword with every swing. Droplets spraying out, threatening to burn his body. The good news is this thing cut through the Grimm like butter. Making another half-turn he swung the sword, easily bisecting the Ursa Minor while spraying several drops on nearby Beowolves, keeping them at bay as the liquid singed their flesh. Zelle bounded over to Ryo who had just crushed a smaller Beowolf and cut off the arm of an Ursa Major before stabbing it through it's midsection, past the hard bone-like armor.

Zelle put his back against Ryo's as they were surrounded once again by the snarling Grimm. One tried to pounce but was easily removed by the lava enhanced sword. The one beowolf had opened the floodgates and they all began moving towards the two figures of green and grey, hoping to overwhelm the two with numbers. Quick on his feet, Zelle ordered Ryo to transform and did the only thing he thought could save them. He began to spin.

…..

The group of seven were tearing through the forest at max speed. What they saw was shocking. On his knee Zelle was panting. Ryo was in his beowolf form and had several bite marks and claw wounds across his body. What was the most surprising was the heat coming off the area from thick viscous lava that was quickly cooling in the day sun. Also, there were a few trees that were on fire.

Zelle looked up. "Yo."

Weiss and Ren couldn't help but deadpan, while the rest began to move towards to him, careful to avoid the magma that hadn't quite cooled yet.

"So big guy, care to explain the lack of grimm and the lava?" Yang asked.

"Well you see, I forgot to change out my air dust canister so went into the fight with it being somewhat low. After misfiring, I got quickly surrounded as you all retreated." At this the other three looked bashful, even Weiss.

"Not saying that in a bad way, I need to figure out a way to indicate my dust levels on this stupid thing. But that is neither here nor there. Regardless, I've been working on a dust subtype known as magma. Let's just say the results speak for themselves." Of course, some of the Grimm ran away after a couple waves, after seeing the human top cut through their brethren and being singed to a larger degree by magma spray. Everyone nodded except Weiss. She began spluttering and waving about as she tried to think of the words to express herself.

"What do you mean you've been 'working' on magma dust, are you saying you just made your own subtype of dust?" Zelle blinked.

"Yes?"

"Is that a question or an answer?"

"Yes."

Weiss gave up and just slouched over with a sigh. Trying to understand Ash and how he did things was too much work than it was worth. He tamed a beowolf that now had become… something. He created a mecha-weapon that could rival Ruby's in complexity and now he apparently makes subtypes of dus for the fun of it. It took her family three generations to develop Ice dust, that being said, Ash was family so maybe that part made more sense.

Zelle amusedly watched Weiss' facial expressions flash between defeated, contemplation and acceptance, then arrogance. He understood completely. Over half the time he just goes with the flow. If something happens, it happens. Though the last expression completely went over his head.

"Soooo, Mr. Tamer, is there a reason that your still eye level with everyone's crotch?" Yang asked with a raised eyebrow. This got everyone's attention. Zelle was still crouched down on one knee, holding onto his sword with both hands.

"Well you see Goldilocks, I can't stand up." Yang snorted while everyone else looked at the two with various levels of amusement or worry.

"Makes sense, your aura is in the red." Ruby commented worriedly as she pulled out her scroll which showed her team's aura levels.

Zelle nodded. "I underestimated the aura drain of consistent use of the lava dust. I could probably use lightning dust nearly twenty times longer for the same results." Zelle was interrupted from any long-winded explanation by a gloved hand. Looking up the arm, Yang had her arm extended out to him with a shit-eating grin.

Zelle sighed. Glancing over at Ryo who appeared surprisingly calm despite the damage that he took and the amount of people around him. "Ryo, get over here."

This was team JNPR's first time witnessing Ryo transform and it turned their faces pale and a little green as they watched the process. Black smoke poured of Ryo as he shrunk in size, as bone muscles popped and snapped back into place to support the Grimm's new form. Now in dog form, Ryo lazily walked over to Zelle and jumped in his hood.

Grasping Yang's hand, he allowed her to pull him up and put an arm around him to keep him steady. Ruby quickly got on the other size, and attempted to help despite her much smaller size. Really, she wasn't doing that much, but Zelle would let her have her fun. They set out, careful to avoid the cooling magma and fifteen minutes later, they arrived at a bullhead with a very irate Glynda.

"So Zelle, is there any reason that I shouldn't put you in detention for your stunt?" Zelle smiled nervously and looked at Yang for help but she turned her head away. Damn it, they didn't have the best relationship but help a teammate out! Zelle turned towards to Ruby who was attempting to move herself slightly behind him. Of course. Everyone else looked away when he glanced over at them, except Nora who just gave him a big smile and waved. Zelle was on his own to face the demoness that was Glynda Goodwitch.

"Well you see, as I was enjoying the beauty that was Forever Fall, I saw a bunch of Grimm that were congregating and moving rapidly toward something and me, being the noble, awesome-" his explanation was stopped as Glynda pulled on his ear.

"Ow, ow. Hey let- ow! Stop tugging!" Everyone was amused as Glynda dragged Zelle away by the ear.

"All right everyone, we're calling the field trip short due to extenuating circumstances." There a few groans from some, while most others were excited to get out of the place that had become a hunting ground for the Grimm. Team RWBY laugh and giggled as they told Zelle of their expedition to collect sap and Jaune's bravery against the Ursa Major.

Zelle had to admit, that was impressive. The first time he encountered an Ursa Major had nearly resulted in death. The bullhead took off as everyone settled in for the ride home.

Zelle enjoyed the sight of Forever Fall as the sun descended down the sky. Something was nagging at the back of his mind though about the story his team had told him regarding Jaune. Things didn't add up. His semblance had activated but he couldn't access it? That went against everything he learned when he had been under the tutelage of Glynda. With the semblance unlocked, he should be able to access it as much as he liked. Zelle caught himself staring at Jaune who smiled awkwardly and waved. Zelle simply turned away and stared back outside.

"What did I do?" Jaune whispered to Pyrrha. Pyrrha simply shrugged with a small smile and praised him for his bravery which made him forget all about Zelle. Oh if only he knew.

…..

"How did I get here?" Jaune asked himself as he stared across the arena towards Cardin who also looked decidedly uncomfortable.

It had been two days after the events of the Forever Fall and teams RWBYZ, JNPR, and CRDN found themselves in the arena with Jaune and Cardin standing across from each other with their combat gear in hand. Everyone had received an invite to attend this gathering from Zelle, whatever this was. They had been waiting for about six or seven minutes for their host to show up and people were beginning to grow impatient, especially one particular heiress.

"Hmph, if he doesn't feel the need to show up then I don't have to stay for this." She got up with a ladylike grunt and made her way to the door only to be blocked by the form of Zelle.

Zelle was dressed in some strange outfit. In place of his leather armor that protected his joints and green shirt and brown pants, he had on a plain navy long sleeve shirt that had wires protruding from the end of the sleeves and wires were connected with pads to his wrists and temples. He had on black pants that had yellow stitching on them that stretched from the hip to the cuff.

Weiss turned slightly red and turned around quickly and hastily returned to her seat. Zelle just looked over at Ruby confused and she shrugged. Going over his his team he pulled out a circular device that had several numbers and wave. Handing it over to Ruby, he explained what was going on to everybody.

"Listen up everyone, I brought you here for a series of tests and evaluations." He put a hand out that silenced anyone before anyone could speak up. "Not those tests. Think of it more as training. I'm going to push everyone of you, including myself, to the limit today. There is no holding back." The looks he got were varied. Team CRDL had a look of apprehension while RWBY looked scared shitless. Jaune joined in with team RWBY and the rest of team JNPR looked a little excited.

"But first." Zelle jumped onto the stage and trudged toward Cardin with purpose who begin to shrink on himself as Zelle approached him. He glanced at his teammates who were also looking on in fright for their team leader. Turning back Zelle was right in front of him. Silence reigned for a good twenty seconds as Zelle stared into Cardin's eyes, never wavering. Then it broke.

"Apologize."

Cardin finally moved his eyes away from Zelle at those words. Another few seconds last before Cardin mumbled something. Zelle shook his head. "Those words aren't meant for me."

Zelle glanced over to Jaune who was standing there in rapt attention. Cardin got the hint and slowly trudged over to Jaune. With a sigh, Cardin apologized.

"Listen Arc, I realize that I was a real jerk but you made me see that perhaps things aren't as awful as I believed. That maybe being a jerk to those weaker than me hurt people much more than I realized. Even after everything I did to you, you still saved me from that Ursa and dragged me out of that mess. So, even if you can't forgive me now, I'm sorry for what it's worth." Cardin looked away at the end of his apology. Not wanting to see the look of everyone.

"You're forgiven Cardin." Cardin's head whipped back so fast, Zelle was surprised it didn't snap.

"What?"

"I forgive you. Yeah you were a jerk, but you seem to have a small change of heart and no one was seriously hurt so yeah, I forgive you." Jaune said with a small smile that may have caused a single heart to flutter in the room.

Cardin sat there for a moment before slowly grinning.

"You're all right Arc. Thanks."

"Not a problem Cardin, and call me Jaune. All my friends do." Jaune then put his arm out and Cardin grasped his forearm with both grinning ear to ear.

"Will do, Jaune."

A cough interrupted them though. Everyone turned back to look back at the organizer of this event.

"As much as I enjoy seeing the budding of this bromance, we need to get back to business. You two are fighting me first." The two looked at each other and nodded with resolute looks on their faces.

"Ruby, if the bar goes into the red, the line goes over the little dots or the third number from the bottom goes over 160, I need you to stop the match, and if I don't listen, take me down."

Everyone grew worried looks at this news, why would they have to take him down? Yang voiced this first and Zelle gave a wry grin.

"This is an experiment for me just as much it is a test for you all." Most were confused about this with the exception of Blake. Her eyes widened at realization as her mind flashbacked to the initiation. Zelle saw Blake's reaction and merely winked.

" _He winked? Is he serious? He is trying to access that power again? Why would he even want to try that?"_ Blake thought as she gripped seat a little tighter.

"All right." Zelle summoned a glyph and Mune and Raiden appeared in his hand. "The rules are the same in combat class unless I say otherwise understood?"

Cardin and Jaune looked at each other and nodded. The board then began a countdown.

5\. 4. 3. 2. 1. Go!

 **A/N: As I said, short chapter. Hopefully it was ok. We saw a new dust type that Zelle has implemented into his arsenal. A spin to win scenario, and Zelle will be attempting an experiment of sorts next chapter!**


	12. The Experiment

**The Experiment**

The bell sounded for the match yet neither party moved. Zelle sat there casually with Raiden hanging down to his side and Mune on his shoulder. Jaune had his shield up and sword up by his ear pointed towards Zelle. Cardin had his mace in both hand out in front of him, eyes narrowed.

"Um, what are they doing?" Yang asked. She would have already charged Zelle and beaten the snot of him. Completely forgetting the fact last time sparred, Zelle wiped the floor with her.

"Jaune and Cardin are being wary, sizing up their opponent. They are both aware that Zelle could easily take them on. There is a reason Zelle referred to this more as a test than an actual spar. He is evaluating them, that is the reason he has yet to do anything. By his smile, I'm assuming he approves of their caution." Blake summarised her thoughts on the current state of the duel. Yang nodded. That made sense. With the exception of Ruby and Pyrrha, Zelle had beaten everyone here in combat class at some point or another. Oh yeah, and Ren. She always forgot about the quiet boy of team JNPR. Her attention was taken as she heard the first signs of movement.

Jaune was slowly inching his way around Zelle as Cardin did the same but the other way. Zelle let them, content to sit there and do what they wanted. Finally, they had him flanked. Jaune nodded toward Cardin and they both charged with a battle cry. They approached Zelle at full speed. Jaune made a wide sweeping arc hoping to hit him as Cardin lifted his mace up, intending to crush Zelle. They saw their weapons inch towards him and then Zelle moved. Without moving his sword, he took a step forward and allowed the mace to connect with the middle of his blade, using the leverage of the mace, he jumped over the swing and flipped over the mace. Jaune proceeded to get a face full of lightning rounds while Cardin was kicked in the stomach, sending him sprawling away.

Jaune quickly brought his shield up but the damage was done, his jaw was numb and he was having trouble articulating words, they were coming out as gibberish as he attempted to ask if Cardin was OK. Zelle stood there with that infuriating smile. "Surely that's not it from two team leaders. I mean, I'm just the worker drone." Zelle's smile dropped. "Though I'm awful at reactionary planning, so maybe that's for the better." His words made quite a few people upset, not just Jaune and Cardin. Ruby was upset for him thinking of himself like that, not knowing he was goading them and Weiss felt the bitter pang of anger, before pushing it down. She understood the Ozpin's decision and she was going to do her best to play her role.

Zelle got the desired reaction out of Cardin who charged Zelle. Zelle's smile grew. Jaune realized what was happening too late. "Carbin wae!" Cardin didn't stop and attempted another overhead swing. Zelle easily dodged it but didn't expect the ground to explode. Zelle jumped back and checked the damage. A sweat drop formed, two percent, really? That was like a grenade going off!

"Well look at you and your bag of tricks. I'm going to assume that was your semblance? An explosion semblance of some sort perhaps?" Zelle asked conversationally, as if he hasn't been nearly blown up. Cardin grit his teeth. "Shut up!" He came at him again, moving the Mace to one hand attempting a wide swing. Zelle merely bent back, avoiding the mace by mere inches. This went on for another minute as Cardin desperately attempted to hit Zelle, with each swing getting more wild than the last. Having enough, Zelle got in Cardin's guard. Cardin was so focused on Zelle, he didn't have time to react to his presence.

Zelle fired Raiden at the shoulder carrying the mace. While unloading the clip, Zelle struck his leg. Forcing Cardin onto one knee. Once he was down and Raiden had successfully numbed that arm, Zelle flipped Raiden around and pistol whipped Cardin in the face causing him to fall back. Everyone in the audience winced at the sound of pistol cracking Cardin over the head. Jaune watched all of this with despair. He could not move into help Cardin as his attacks were too wild and wide to offer any assistance without a ranged weapon.

Zelle looked down at Cardin and back at the board. He still had 50% aura, good. The pistol whip was supposed to disorient and look badass, not eliminate the student. He had lessons to teach, not knock them out… though that is also fun, not going to lie. Stepping away from Cardin, he let him stand. Jaune went over and helped him all the while Cardin glared at Zelle.

"Lesson one!" Zelle had everyone's undivided attention. "Do not let anger cloud your judgement. If an enemy is taunting you or insulting your skills, he or she is more than likely goading you to be more reckless. It makes your much more predictable and easy."

"But we aren't going to have to fight other humans so it shouldn't be an issue." Zelle looked over to Ruby, poor naive Ruby.

"Sorry to break it to you this way Little Red, but you are. As defenders of man we also must protect man from each other." Ruby looked confused. "Bandits, thieves, criminals, soldiers, White Fang, and even other hunters. You are expected to defend Vale from all threats. Even those that threaten themselves." Ruby looked perturbed but nodded. Seeing that she got the point. Zelle turned his attention to Pyrrha and gave her a grin. She leaned back at the playfulness of the smile, as if all of this was a game and he was talking to children. To be fair, he was basically re-teaching the same lessons he got from Glynda when he got here, though some of this was based off of personal experience.

"Lesson two, always be prepared." Zelle reared back and threw his sword. Pyrrha yelled at Jaune who saw the sword coming and barely got his shield up as the sword deflected off and sailed into the air. What Jaune wasn't prepared for was the fingers gripping the edges of his shield and everything being turned upside down. He certainly wasn't ready for the ground that knocked the wind out of him. He blearily noticed Cardin get thrown outside of the arena.

Jaune watched satisfied as Cardin slammed against the arena wall. He got his message across. Hopefully they took it to heart. Hearing feet shuffling, Zelle turned around and saw Jaune getting up. That was quick. He cracked the floor with that throw. He had been attempting to keep him down for a while but this was fine too. Coating his fist with aura, Zelle punched the shield with enough force for Jaune's arm to go numb at the impact and send him skidding a few feet back. Jaune retaliated surprisingly quickly and took Zelle by surprise. He almost managed to knick Zelle, almost. Zelle spun out of the way and did a spin kick to Jaune's torso causing him to go sprawling. Just like before he got up, determination and wariness in equal parts in his eyes.

Zelle snorted, that grit would only get him so far, but he liked the look in the eyes. Jaune had one glaring issue though. "Jaune, where is your anger?" Jaune looked confused as did everyone else in the arena. His first lesson was not to angry wasn't it?

"Don't get me wrong, acting on your anger is incorrect most of the time, but you have never been angry. Upset, yes. Distraught, sure. Sad, most certainly. But for all of that, never once have I seen you angry." Jaune thought about it and sure enough, since coming to Beacon, he had not been really and truly angry.

"So here's what I'm going to do". Zelle took a step and disappeared in a burst of sound. Jaune felt his hair painfully grabbed and his sword arm painfully twisted causing him to drop it. Zelle whispered into his ear. "Look towards Pyrrha." Zelle demanded. Jaune's stomach dropped. He tried to keep his head away from her direction. Zelle pulled his hair and turned his head back towards her. Jaune's stomach dropped. Behind Pyrrha, just a foot away Ryo stood there in his beowolf form, fangs bared. Jaune wanted to yell but was stopped with a jerk of his hair.

"Don't say anything or Ryo will attack and mangle her." In truth, the rest of Jaune's team was in on this though they didn't realize he would be so rough with their leader. Pyrrha's face was scrunched up with worry, while Nora was threatening to break his knees and Ren was attempting to calm Nora down. They were so caught up in the fight, the actually forgot about Ryo. It was making for a very believable scene. "I want you to get angry, hate me, rage. Come at me with the intent to kill.

Zelle pushed forward causing Jaune to stumble. He immediately turned around and quickly picked his sword up and charged, swinging angrily. Zelle easily dodged and kicked out at Jaune. Jaune brought his shield up and blocked the kick. He felt his arm numb but that wasn't good enough to push him away this time. Zelle blocked the sword aimed at him by grabbing Jaune's wrist and throwing him away. Jaune slammed into the ground but quickly righted himself and skidded to a stop. Anger was plastered across his face.

"That's it Jaune. Get angry!" Zelle yelled. He reached into his pocket and a yellow glyph appeared and fired a blast of lightning at Jaune. Jaune merely held his shield up and charged through the blast. Zelle was caught off guard by the unexpected move and almost got a sword to the face. Quickly ducking, he spun and knocked Jaune's feet from under him. Standing up, he proceeded to axe kick causing the ground to crater once more. Zelle took a leap back once he finished and glanced at the Aura levels. He was still sitting comfortably at 94% and Jaune was at 37%.

" _I severely underestimated the amount of aura he has. He has taken several strong and well placed blows that would knock most other out. I'm not sure if Yang would be able to tank that much damage. Wow, he's getting up again."_

Zelle returned his attention to Jaune who had his sword tip down and was using it to help pick himself up. Zelle could see the pure rage on his face. But that's not what mattered. White wisps were coming out in spurts all across his body. Zelle resisted the smile that threatened to split his face. Good, his plan was working. Jaune got up and with greater speed than he showed previously, he covered the few feet between them in a matter of moments. He made a lunge with two hands towards Zelle's torso. Zelle sidestepped it quickly and clotheslined Jaune causing him to go on his back. Zelle noticed how the wisps concentrated where he hit and actually felt like he was pushed away from the point of impact. Zelle jumped back and glanced back up and saw something that stunned him. Jaune's aura was slowly increasing. So stunned that Jaune landed a clean hit on Zelle causing him to get pushed back. Zelle stared hard at Jaune, but he didn't flinch, but it was clear he was calming down. The white wisps were still present. Flickering on and off around his body. Jaune got prepared to attack again when the sound of clapping stopped him dead in his tracks.

Zelle's hands clapping resounded around the dead silent room. No one had said a word since Jaune's brutal handling, too engrossed in the one-sided match to say anything. Jaune was so startled that he brought his weapons down, the wisps disappearing in the process. Everyone stared at Zelle who had a wide smile on his face full of sincerity.

"Congratulations Jaune, you have unlocked your Semblance." Zelle declared. Everyone else was stunned. That thrashing all to unlock his Semblance? Jaune was having trouble articulating his words.

"I'm sorry, what?" Zelle simply summoned Mune and Raiden back to his hands as he began his explanation.

"Semblances are very fickle things. They manifest differently in everyone differently. For some, they are unlocked when their aura is unlocked." Nods came from Pyrrha and Ruby as they remember being able to use their Semblance as soon as they had their aura unlocked. "For others, theirs unlocked during a time of great adversity, like a breakthrough of sorts." Nora and Yang nodded this time. "For even fewer, it's hereditary and will show up whenever it does." Weiss looked uncomfortable at these words. "But for the vast majority, it shows up during instances of extreme stress or emotional distress." Now it was Blake's turn to look uncomfortable and while most didn't notice, Ren was visibly troubled by those words.

"Your semblance is not hereditary after looking into your family history."

"You did what?" Jaune shouted back.

Zelle simply continued on as if he didn't hear the outburst. "It was most certainly not unlocked when I unlocked it the first time and your time of adversity came during our trip to Forever Fall according to Pyrrha. Which means you fall under the last category. This was meant to bring out the easiest emotion, anger. I wanted you to feel desperate, hopeless, angry and my hypothesis was right. We managed to get your semblance to emerge. Oh, I should mention that Pyrrha was never in any real danger. She was in on the, I will totally kill her thing." Jaune's mouth dropped open and he stared at Pyrrha as if she was insane. She gave him a small wave, a small smile on her face and a quiet sorry.

However, although I have an idea of what your semblance is, I'm trying to figure out what it does precisely. Everyone looked at Zelle curiously.

"What do you mean Zelle?" Ruby decided to voice her confusion.

Well for one look at the board. Everyone did and saw that Jaune's aura was sitting pretty at precisely 50%. A few got what he meant, but there were quite a few confused stares.

"His aura levels increased rapidly. Typically we replenish aura by resting, eating, and staying hydrated. His were increasing in the midst of combat. Though, that's not the only thing and this is why I'm confused." Zelle summoned Mune back to his hand and quickly swung Mune and Jaune had no time to react. Closing his eyes, he waited for the strike to connect. Instead of feeling the weightlessness that typically comes from Zelle's strikes. Jaune just felt a little more tired. When he opened his eyes, he noticed white wisps that covered his body. Zelle's arm was pulled back. Zelle swung again. This time Jaune watched the sword, about two inches from his body, a white wisp appeared and created what appeared to create a miniature explosion which pushed back his the blade.

"It appears that you have a shield of sorts. Right now it seems quite passive, work with Pyrrha more and you should be able to will it on and off, right now it appears that it completely negates kinetic energy basically making you a juggernaut though it appears to eat your aura. Nora should be able to help you figure out it's limits." Jaune nodded as he processed all of this information.

"Jaune." Jaune looked at Zelle who still retained a small smile on his face. Zelle had his hand out. "Great job." Jaune reached out, a smile also reaching his face and they shook hands.

"Thanks, but you know, you can be a real douchebag." Zelle just laughed. Everyone had smiles.

"Well team CRDN I really have nothing to teach you all as I don't know you all well enough yet. If I figure out any other information to help you all train I'll let you all know. Tell Cardin to think on what happened during the fight and why he lost and come find me when he has the answer." The team exhaled a breath of relief. They quickly gathered their leader and began to drag him away, probably the medic wing.

"All right now that is out of the way. Let's get our next contestant under way. Yang it's your turn girl, get on down here." Seeing he was done, Jaune headed back up to his team where Pyrrha began fussing over him. Zelle smiled, damn they were so cute together. He shipped them hard.

Yang made her way down and got onto the arena and put her hands on her hips. "So what's the lesson today professor?" Zelle merely dismissed his weapons and walked up to her. He made sure to keep direct eye contact as he did so. He eventually got to where he was directly in front of her to where their torsos were nearly touching. Yang merely raised an eyebrow as she looked up at him. "What, is there something on my face?" Then he did something unexpected. He leaned down and kissed her forehead. The reaction around the room was instantaneous. Blake looked furious, Ruby's expression became a little downtrodden but went back to normal very quickly, Weiss face had turn neon red. Pyrrha and Jaune also were blushing, Ren was doing his best to keep his face neutral and Nora whistled.

The whistle brought Yang out of her startled trance, she then proceeded to knee Zelle in every man's sacred area. Zelle fell down, whimpering and quietly said "Yeah, I deserved that." They all noticed that there was something now on Yang's forehead. Ruby being the voice of all things obvious decided to point it out. "Yang, there's something on your-" She was cut off as she saw Zelle put his finger to his lips before grimacing. 

"What was that Rubes?"

"Oh nothing, nevermind!" Ruby quickly called back. Yang was going to say something but was stopped as she saw Zelle getting up very slowly. "Damn, do you kick every guy in the balls when they show you affection." Yang put a finger to her chin and nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

Zelle's eye twitched. Aura was awesome, that would have hurt infinitely worse had he not have it. "Other than your aversion to men despite your… appearance, let's get down to business." Yang grit her teeth as she bit back a retort. "The rules are simple, hand to hand combat. No weapons." Loser is decided by knockout or Aura reaching 75%. Yang nodded and took off Ember Cecilia and walked over and handed them to Ruby for safe keeping. As she got closer. Team JNPR and RWB got to see what was on Yang's forehead. It was a dark green design of a flower. However Weiss noticed the little symbols hidden among the lines and quickly took out a pad and pen and began attempting to sketch the design.

Once Yang got into the ring, Zelle started the timer. Once it hit 0, she immediately charged and swung a right straight at him. Zelle blocked it and retaliated with a left hook. Yang ducked it and attempted to knee him in the stomach, Zelle leapt back. The two then began a close up fist brawl. A solid two minutes of the two going at it before Yang leapt back with a grin on her face. She had taken quite a few hits and decided it was time to get serious. She smashed her fists together and Zelle merely raised an eyebrow. Yang's smile faltered and she tried again and nothing happened. Apparently that didn't stop her eyes from turning from lilac to crimson.

"What did you do? she growled.

She was actually answered by Weiss. "He took away your semblance." Her voice was laced with awe. On the notepad, she had drawn a blowup version of the symbol on Yang's head and had deciphered what it could do.

"One point for Snow White. Today's lesson Goldilocks is to learn to fight without your semblance." Yang growled.

"You have no right to do that!"

"That's where you are wrong." Yang continued glowering.

"As you are right now, you are a hindrance to the team and yourself." Yang charged and attempted a leaping punch which completely missed as Zelle merely sidestepped the telegraphed attack.

"Remember rule one? This applies to you more heavily than anyone else. However, your semblance-" He was forced to stop to duck and roll past a series of punches and kicks thrown his way. "Relies way too heavily on taking hits and your anger. Which is all fine and dandy, with the exception you lose a lot of your common sense." Yang attempted to roundhouse kick him and he ducked under it, she then proceeded to throw several more rapid punches his way, all of which he dodged. "You-" He said grabbing the last fist. "Need to calm the fuck down." With that, he grabbed her and lifted her over his head and slammed her into the ground, cratering the arena and causing several pieces to splinter completely off.

Zelle hopped a few feet back from the impact zone and thrust his hands in his pockets. Not too long Yang was seen getting out of the crater. "Listen, getting angry is helping no one. You need to learn to control it. Temper it. Find an outlet, something. All your doing now is charging in and hoping to overpower whoever you fight, which I'm sure would work in most cases. But what if you fight someone you can't hit like Ruby or someone who hits harder like myself? What then?" Yang's eyes were back to their Lilac color and she was breathing heavy.

"You're… You're right." Zelle nodded his head. "That is the lesson, so you're good to head back up."

Yang nodded, her head down. She began to trudge back to the stands, her energetic persona no longer in place.

"Yang." Zelle called out. Yang stopped. "Don't get me wrong, you are an awesome fighter and I wouldn't prefer to have anyone else on the front lines with me." A few seconds passed before Yang turned back with a cheeky grin on her face. "Damn straight!" With that, she headed back up.

Zelle was about to call the next people down when a thought occurred to him. "Oh, by the way Yang. You should get your semblance back in about five minutes.

"All right, Nora and Ren, your turn." Nora gave a big grin and jumped down into the arena. Ren merely sighed. With the way things have been going, he didn't share Nora's enthusiasm. He took the stairs and was met with a passive Zelle and the energetic Nora. Taking a deep breath, Ren focused and prepared for the fight. Zelle didn't say anything, merely summoning a glyph and pulling out his greatsword from the glyph and starting the timer.

The timer started and Ren pulled out Stormflower and clenched and unclenched his hand. Nora turned Magnhild into hammer form. Zelle merely sat there, a serious look on his face. The timer hit zero and the battle commenced. However, RWBY wasn't paying much attention to the fight, instead engrossed in their own conversation.

"He did what!?" Yang was pissed. She didn't want some mark on her head!

"Just as I said you brute, he gave you a glyph that seals your semblance. I'm not exactly sure of the details yet. This glyph is much more complex than anything I've seen so just hold still so I can finish getting all of the details." Weiss said as she attempted to get Yang to get look at her.

"How did he manage to cut off just her semblance. Isn't a person's semblance directly attached to a person's aura? I would figure that to cut off one, you would need to cut off the other. Kind of like those aura dampening cuffs that hunters use." Blake asked.

Weiss took a deep breath. "Look I'm not sure. As I said, this is outside my knowledge. From what I know, Zelle was apprenticed by Glynda Goodwitch. She is renowned as one of the best glyph users outside the Schnee's. This is possibly something he picked up from her, though there is one detail that keeps bugging me."

"What is that?" Ruby asked as she turned away from the fight to listen. Zelle had just attempted to scorch Ren with his weapon's cannon mode.

"This detail here." Weiss pointed at a some of the symbols. "And here." She said pointing at a different group of symbols. "From what I can tell, one of these has to deal with pain receptors in the body and the other has to deal with detailed information on either Zelle's or Yang's aura." Weiss informed.

"What do you think that means?" Blake asked.

Weiss shook her head. "I have a few ideas but I'm not sure if we should test it."

Ruby tilted her head. "Why not?"

Weiss looked up into the arena to see Zelle having his sword locked with Nora's and Ren slowly picking himself up. Everyone else turned to look at the ensuing battle. "I'm not sure if I want to know the results."

"I mean you aren't going to get a better chance to prove if your hypothesis is right Snow Princess. Zelle said it should be gone here in the next minute." Weiss eye twitched. How she despised that nickname.

"You know what, fine. Everyone else watch Zelle. Yang attempt to activate your semblance." Everyone turned back to see Zelle fighting off both Ren and Nora. Wielding the massive sword as if it was a toy to fend off the two fighters. Zelle summoned a red glyph and fired a torrent of fire at Ren forcing him to retreat and fainted at Nora who fell for it, resulting in her feet being sweeped and getting kicked away. Ren charged back again.

"Yang, now." Weiss demanded. Yang smashed her fists together to see what would happen. They weren't disappointed. Zelle's face scrunched up and his down swing froze and fell heavily much sooner than it should, allowing Ren to get a series of cuts and shots off before Zelle recovered and proceeded to spin with his sword in a three hundred sixty degree turn forcing Ren back. Zelle glared over at the rest of his team before he called the match.

Weiss breathed deeply. Her brain was going several miles a minute at what she saw. Her thoughts were interrupted by Blake. "What just happened? Why did he stop like that?"

"He just suffered aura backlash." Weiss answered plainly, attempting to keep her voice steady.

Ruby winced and Blake cringed while Yang just looked confused. "I don't get it." Everyone turned to her and noticed the mark was gone.

Blake picked up the slack where Weiss left off. "Aura backlash is a serious, yet rare condition that some hunters and huntress contract. Something will disturb the normal composition of their aura making it hard for it to use, if they can use it at all. Anytime they would call upon their semblance or use aura in anything other than it's passive use, it causes extreme to the affected. The best example is a martial art known as Au Shou. It uses the aura of the user to invade their opponents system. It is largely unused by hunters as it only works against others who have their aura unlocked and is not a very good combat style against Grimm."

"What the glyph does is that whenever you try to actively use your semblance, all of your aura that is being used for the activation is being directed into Zelle's system. He gave himself small amounts of aura backlash." Weiss finished her hypothesis.

"That is correct."

Zelle stood there with his greatsword on his shoulder looking at the rest of his team. "I'm actually quite impressed Weiss. That is a level eight glyph of my own personal design. For you to decipher it in five minutes is quite impressive."

"Hmph, who do you take me for, some dimwit who just uses glyphs to look special?"

Zelle snorted. "No, while summoning is your semblance, glyphs can take years to learn. Though it seems I'm an exception." Zelle smiled as he remembered Glynda's face when he finished getting to the eighth level of glyphs within a matter of a few months. She could only do level nine glyphs. Apparently the ability to use level ten glyphs had been lost to history. Zelle had to thank Ash for his knowledge beforehand. That was still trippy to think about. Time to focus again.

"All right, to be honest I don't have anything else to teach so if anyone else wants to spar, we can do that." Immedieatly, Ruby and Pyrrha's hand shot up. Zelle shook his head. Well I'm a little over sixty percent aura right now, so I can only fight one of you."

The two looked over to each other and silence reigned for a good minute before a silent agreement seemed to be made as Pyrrha stepped down into the arena. Zelle's face scrunched up into confusion. "What just happened?"

Pyrrha merely shrugged with a small smile while pulling out her weapons. Zelle just sighed. Crazy women and their mind powers. "All right Pyrrha, here are the rules. First one to-" Zelle was cut off as the door slammed open and a brown haired girl wearing a brown long sleeve shirt, a black scarf and black beaded necklace, and black corset walked in. Anger felt in her every step. As he approached they saw she was wearing black combat pants and a bandoiler of ammunition on her hip and clenching a black handbag.

Zelle looked over to see who had interrupted his training session and felt his blood freeze. No, no, not now! Coco stomped her way down the aisle towards the arena, eyes never leaving Zelle's form. Her sunglasses were off allowing everyone to see the anger in her eyes.

"Zelle!" Zelle visibly flinched and smiled awkwardly and gave a small wave.

"H-hey Coco, funny seeing you here at Beacon right?" Zelle gave a nervous chuckle.

Coco got onto the arena not saying a word, moving past the armed Pyrrha as if she didn't exist and go right in his face. "You. Me. Shopping. Now." Her voice was firm leaving no room for argument. Zelle whimpered and sadly nodded his head. His collar was grabbed and he let himself be dragged out of the arena. Everyone else stayed silent until the door closed again and the girl and Zelle were gone.

"What now?" Jaune voice his question. Everyone looked around each other before Blake voiced her opinion.

"Should, should we help him?"

"Nah, that girl looked pissed. We would probably be making things worse." Yang said as she crossed her arms with a contemplative look.

They all heard beeping and they looked to see that one of the bars on the graph was red. As everyone crowded around Ruby to see what was going on, they all saw the bar said stress and it was reaching near the max it could reach. This resulted in a round of laughter at Zelle's expense.

"Well since Zelle is gone, I think we are good to enjoy our weekend now." Jaune said.

Yang got up stretched, pushing out her chest. "Well I for one am going to head out into Vale. Anyone else in?"

"I need to rest, I'm still hurting a bit." Jaune groaned.

"I agree with Jaune, my aura is quite low still." Ren agreed

"Where Renny goes, I go!" Nora declared cheerfully

"Sorry, maybe next time." Pyrrha apologized with her small smile.

"I'm up for it." Blake said.

"Let's do it!" Ruby called cheerfully.

Weiss sighed. "Someone has to keep you all out of trouble."

"All right it is decided then. See you guys later."

With that, the two teams departed, but for two girls there was one thought swimming through their mind.

" _Who was that girl?"_

 **A/N: Not much to say this time around. Hopefully you all enjoyed the chapter and see you next time!**


	13. A Break and a Promise

**A/N: Sorry this took me so long to get out. I am going back to school and working and that is pretty much eating up all of my time. Thanks to everyone who is still reading and leave comments on what you all think I could do better. I decided to show a couple of close friends this story and pointed out some several mistakes in earlier chapters that I may end up correcting. I am also considering completely rewriting the first and second chapters to make them more coherent. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and have a good one!**

 **A Break and a Promise**

" _I had to dip into my savings a bit but I managed to get through Coco's wrath."_ Zelle was currently sitting across from Coco Adel, his first friend from when he arrived here in Remnant. Well, human friend. They were currently at a cafe with several shopping bags all around them. Coco had dragged them from store to store in Vale and bought something from each shop until Zelle was sure that they had bought something from every store Vale had to offer. It was now starting to get late, indicated by the orange sky as the sun descended past the horizon.

"So now that I'm done being your doll and you bought at least thirty outfits, can we talk now?" Zelle said calmly. He had expected this reaction. It's why he had been trying to avoid her for so long. Was that cowardly? Yes. Was he ashamed of it? Hell no. Coco had the most aggressive shopping trips he had ever witnessed. Seriously, he had spent nearly 20,000 lien in a day. That was more than most adults made in a few months! If he didn't have an exclusive contract with the SDC, he would actually be worried about his expenses.

Coco answered by putting her drink down and looking down into its contents as she stirred it. Silence filled the void between them until Zelle got uncomfortable and decided to talk first. "Look, I'm sorry. I was an ass and should have contacted you as soon as I arrived at Beacon. The only reason I didn't later was because I was a coward and afraid to face you." Zelle admitted.

Coco nodded. "Damn straight you are. What's worse, is that I probably would've never been able to track you down if my teammate hadn't told me how you helped her out. Thanks for that by the way."

Zelle was curious about that though. Had he helped someone recently? The only one the came to mind was a rabbit… faunus. Coco also mentioned her teammate being a rabbit faunus several times in messages. Well, to be fair to himself, he wasn't exactly level headed when all of that went down. Angered by Cardin's blatant disrespect of anyone was enough to get Zelle's blood to boil. He also never understood the blatant disrespect and treatment towards faunus. White fang, sure. They were basically terrorists. Then again, it really wasn't that different back on Earth either. However humans there weren't being hunted to the death by what seemed to be a never ending supply of evil incarnate, aka Grimm.

"I'm taking it that the faunus I helped was Velvet then, since Fox and Yatsuhashi seem more masculine." Zelle paused. "Either that or her family has some weird naming sense and named her Fox."

"Pfft, says you. Seriously, I've never met another person with a weird name like yours. Though you are correct in your assumption." The conversation lapsed into silence as the two sipped at their respective drinks.

"I've missed you, you know." The admission was quiet but Zelle still heard it.

"Yeah, I've missed you too."

The conversation afterward became a lot less awkward as each regaled each other with stories of what they've been up to this year. Coco was far more impressed with Zelle's stories.

"Let me get this straight. Not only did you fight a deathstalker and an elder nevermore for your entrance exam, but you can't remember a most of it and were in the medical ward due to some weird aura mishap?" Coco asked.

"Pretty much." It was a small lie, but anything to ease her worried look that he could see past her oversized sunglasses.

"Jeez, and all I had to do was survive a few days in the emerald forest and mow down a few beowolves here and there." The duo had finished their drinks and were making their way through the crowds back to the bullheads to call it a night.

"But it's strange, you never had any issues during your time as Warden, did you?" Zelle shook his head.

"Not that I can recall, then again I only ever had to deal with smaller Grimm. The worse that I dealt with was a hoard of Ursa Majors. I'm just glad it wasn't anything worse like a Queen Taijitu. Then it could've been much worse."

Their talk ended as they finally arrived at the bullheads. Handing her all of bags, Zelle could hear a groan and saw the pilot with his head on the steering mechanism of the Bullhead as he saw his next passenger. Zelle sent him an apologetic smile. He was apparently aware of the walking disaster that Coco was.

"Well this is where we part ways. I have a business meeting here in Vale in the next twenty minutes." Coco nodded. She knew about his experiments with dust and had pushed for him to share his research or at least market his dust. She was glad to learn that he finally got a contract with the SDC.

"All right, just make sure to stay in touch this time." With a quick hug, Coco got onto the Bullhead and stowed away her bags. Zelle watched her head off in silence. As the helipad quieted down, Zelle hopped down the steps and into the streets where he turned and began heading down an alleyway. There, he heard voices.

"He's coming this way, move move!" A female voice reached Zelle's ears. He knew that a group had been following him around for half the day around Vale. He had an idea of who it was too. Might as well figure out what his team was doing.

Zelle sped up and heard what he assumed was Yang attempting a whisper "Shit. He's coming straight towards us. Come on Weiss hurry up!" Zelle hummed. Interesting, he couldn't detect Blake's or Weiss' aura when he noticed them following him. He assumed it was simply the sisters. Breaking into a sprint down the alleyway and summoning Mune, he saw the four figures attempting to climb up and over a fence. With a burst of his semblance he launched himself up and over the fence just as Weiss got over and stood there pointing Mune at the group. They froze and Zelle could vaguely make out the shapes of his team.

He could feel the tension in the air until Yang broke it. "Heh heh. Hey Zelle. Fancy meeting you in this alley." Zelle sighed and dropped his sword as it was caught by a rune and disappeared. Putting a hand on his face and rubbing his forehead.

"You know. It's rude to follow a person around all day." He could practically feel the embarrassed blushes of his teammates as he caught them red handed.

"Zelle, we-"

"Who was she?" Ruby was cut off as Blake asked her question. It was very stressed and had a hint of something underlying that. Something that put Zelle on edge. Zelle saw Ruby's figure turn to look at Blake. Zelle's eyebrows knit together as he pushed his aura forward and felt their signatures. Now that he was closer, he could feel Weiss and Blake's auras. Aura doesn't lie, but that was abnormal for the normally stand-offish girl.

Releasing a sigh, Zelle just turned around and started walking out of the alley and he heard the team following him. "You can ask your questions when we get back to Beacon. I'd rather not be here after dark and miss curfew."

The trip back to Beacon was relatively quiet, if not a bit strange. Blake, while not directly hostile, but was being more reclusive and sharp than usual. Weiss was bagging on Ruby. And Yang. She was simply staring at him, grinning from ear to ear as if she learned the secrets to the universe.

When they finally got back to the room, Zelle pulled up a chair to face the girls as they took seats on their respective beds. _"I feel like this has been occurring way too often. I wonder if I would be in these situations with a full male team? ...Probably not. Well, except for me going murder crazy. Even I would need an explanation, though I still don't understand all of what happened myself."_

"All right girls, ask away."

Blake started off. "Who was that?"

"Coco Adel. Second year of Beacon Academy and a childhood friend before I became a Warden." Zelle gave himself a pat on the back for that answer. Short, to the point and didn't leave a lot of avenues for continued questioning.

"Why did she drag you off from the training area like that?" This time it was Weiss.

" _I guess they weren't close enough to hear our conversation. Makes sense since they were sticking to alleys and areas that were either heavily crowded or concealed."  
_

"Let's just say I've been neglecting to inform her of my stay here."

"How did she find out then?" Ruby asked.

"Well, do you all remember when Cardin was picking on that rabbit faunus in the cafeteria?" He got a round of nods. "Turns out that was her teammate, Velvet. Coco had told stories to her teammates about me and Velvet recognized me, then in turn told Coco. How she found me in the training room, I have no clue."

"Fair enough, what was with the shopping spree though?" Yang asked and Zelle winced. "Oh. That bad huh?"

"Let's just say I am currently 20,000 lien poorer." Ruby, Yang, and Blake all cringed and Yang sent him an apologetic look. Weiss looked confused.

"That's not that much."

Zelle just stared at Weiss incredulously. "Snow White. Not all of us have the full backing of the SDC which mind you is a multi-billion lien company." Zelle said. Weiss took a red hue as she glanced at the rest of her teammates who were sending her similar looks and she looked down and started mumbling about… something.

"Well that's pretty much it. Any other questions, or can I go to bed and try to forget about my empty pockets?"

"Oh, oh! When can we meet her?" Ruby asked, bouncing up and down on her bed. Zelle sweat dropped, he was so glad that he forced them to get actual bunk beds. He would be afraid of the integrity of the bed if she had done that before.

"I don't know. I should be staying in contact with her now that she got her anger out. Maybe we can arrange something with her entire team as I'm interested in meeting them as well? How does that sound Little Red?"

"Whoo! Let's meet our upperclassmen!" She declared.

"You all do that, for now I'm going to hit the hay." She then stared intently at Zelle, followed by Ruby and then the now calm Weiss and Blake. Realizing they wanted privacy to change. Zelle stepped out the window and made his way up onto the roof. The Remnant moon hung far up in the air. He took a deep breath as heard voices

"Your foot is too far forward Jaune." Pyrrha's voice reached his ear. He stopped and extended his aura away from him. Sure enough, the strong aura of Jaune and gentle aura of Pyrrha reached his senses. Climbing up the steps, he saw Jaune practicing katas as he swung his sword.

"Now take a step forward and make a stabbing motion." Jaune did so.

"Your overextending. You need to keep your shield tight to prep a defense. Pyrrha, he's not wielding a spear you know." Zelle spoke up. Both jumped and slowly turned towards the intruder.

"Heyyy Zelle. What are you doing up here?" Jaune asked awkwardly. Pyrrha merely gave him a small smile, as she fidgeted. Why was she so nervous? Was it because he corrected her teaching?

"Not much. I came to get some air as the girls changed and heard you all training. But yeah, you're too far extended. Do it again." Jaune stabbed and dropped his stance. Zelle glanced at Pyrrha.

"You don't mind, do you?" She shook her head, though her body spoke volumes of how uncomfortable she was.

"Once more and hold." He would be quick. Jaune did so and held. Zelle kicked Jaune's leg forcing it to move back a smidge. He then grabbed the shield and moved it closer to him till it was about half a foot from his body instead of being all the way down and bent his knees slightly and pulled back his arm slightly. "You use a shield and a longsword. Whereas Pyrrha is using a spear that has a longer reach, and there aren't a whole lot of weapons with that reach, thus you need to be tight to block or dodge at a moment's notice." With a nod of satisfaction, Zelle began walking away.

"Well, enjoy your training. The girls should be done now so I'm going back." With that Zelle retreated from the couple. " _I've never seen Pyrrha that nervous before. I wonder? Nah, I'm probably wrong. There's no way she would be into Jaune… right? Though, I still totally ship them."_

Zelle slipped back into the room and headed to the bathroom. He needed to use the restroom before he hit the sack. However, he made one fatal mistake. He forgot to check the beds to make sure everyone was already in for the night. Opening the bathroom door, he took a step in before he met eyes with Blake. She was leaning over the sink slightly, amber eyes wide open as she stared at him in surprise. However, that wasn't the issue. Her body was on full display. Wearing nothing but panties, Zelle got a full view of her creamy skin and what must've been upper C cup breasts. Her panties were black and borderline lingerie.

However, the most surprising feature were the black cat ears on the top of her head. Both froze as Zelle took all of this in and Blake simply stared at him with wide eyes. A solid minute passed and neither moved. Simply staring at each other in anticipation. Without a word, Zelle slowly closed the door. Then jetted toward the window as soon as he heard the sounds of rushed dressing on the other side. He leapt out the window and braced himself has he slammed into the ground. Rolling with the landing to mitigate some of the force. Quickly gathering himself, he got up and began sprinting across the courtyard. He didn't have a destination in mind other than getting out of dodge. His plan was foiled however as he heard footsteps coming in behind him. Risking a glance back, he saw Blake sprinting with a pair of baggy pants and a black midriff shirt. Zelle noted those are her pajamas.

He was unsure of how long he ran, but he got a good estimate when he saw the cliff that they had used for the entrance exam. Realizing he didn't have nowhere else to run, since he didn't want to jump off a cliff tonight. He slowly came to a stop and turned around only to feel a mass slam into his midsection like a freight train. Feeling the wind getting knocked out of him. He rolled with the weight, throwing his arms around the person and hunching forward to prevent them from being too hurt. They stopped quite close to the edge and Blake was sitting on top of him, her arms pinning his with an expression he couldn't quite identify. It was anger, but a hint of fear mixed in?

"How much did you see?" She hissed.

Zelle's face began to flush as he remembered her semi-nude form before realizing there was in fact a very dangerous female on top of him. With the straightest face he could manage, he replied, "all of it." There was really no point in lying when caught red-handed. He could see her face flush red and couldn't help as the blush spread to his cheeks again. Damn, this was embarrassing. Though, Blake had a killer body, so if he died for getting to see it, that would be an acceptable death… Not really, but the thought helped console him in this situation.

They stared at each other for a few moments longer. Blake's eyes trying to hold an intensity that could not be maintained due to her embarrassment and Zelle trying to avoid eye contact. Finally, she got off him and turned away. As she did this, Zelle took a moment to appreciate her figure. He wasn't sure if it was because he just saw her nude form, but she looked much sexier than she had moments ago. Her crop top allowing him a view of her flat stomach and her hair was flat and dripping a little water still. Her face framed perfectly in the moonlight. Bow hastily tied concealing her ears.

Zelle shook his head. Bad hormones, bad. Teammate is having a crisis. Help, then admire later. Standing up as well, he took a position next to her. A moment of silence descended between them before Zelle decided to break the tension in the air. She hasn't run away yet, so that was good.

"Were you ever going to tell us? You being a faunus I mean?"

"Yes. No? I don't know." She said as she grabbed her right arm with the other.

"I guess I was afraid of everyone rejecting me. Everyone treats faunus differently. Especially when you have a Schnee on your team." She chuckled but there was not a shred of humor in it.

"I guess I was just scared." She said lowly. She had no idea why she was being so open with Zelle. Maybe it was due to how tired she was or the suddenness of the situation. She hadn't trusted anyone with her emotions like this since HIM. She suddenly felt an arm wrap around her shoulder and a warm surface meet her side. Looking up, she saw Zelle looking up at the moon.

"Listen, I'm no good with comforting words and all that." Zelle cleared his throat and looked down into Blake's shining amber eyes. "But my best friend's mother is a faunus. Honestly, I sometimes think it would be awesome to be a Faunus." Blake's eyes widened exponentially as she continued to stare at him. "Yeah, I mean you all have excellent night vision and other abilities that your animal traits provide you while the rest of us are stuck just being us." He scratched the back of his head and looked away as he looked in the direction of the dorms. "I guess what I'm saying Blake is that I don't have a problem with faunus and whenever you decide to open up to the rest of the team, I will support you if Weiss gets out of hand."

Zelle was feeling super awkward. He didn't really know how to deal with touchy emotions like this. If he ever got upset, he would typically ignore the problem or relieve some stress in the gym. A faint giggle caught his attention and he glanced back at Blake who had a soft smile on her face.

"You know, I think that is the first time you've used my name."

Zelle chuckled. "You might be right." They sat there in comfortable silence as Blake leaned against Zelle letting the peaceful night rule. Five or six minutes passed before Zelle groaned.

"We should probably get back. We have classes tomorrow and that festival thing that Weiss was talking about to check out." Blake wanted to argue that they could stay a little longer but knew he was right. With a reluctant sigh she moved away from his torso and they made it back to the dorm undetected. Before they entered through the window again, Zelle turned back to Blake.

"Offer stands whenever you decide to cash it in by the way." This caused Blake to give a small smile.

"Yeah, thanks."

With that, they quietly entered. Everyone appeared to be asleep so that was good. Zelle was getting real sick and tired with questions. Zelle hopped into his hammock and Blake hopped into bed. With a sigh of weariness, Zelle closed his eyes and let sleep quickly overtake him.

However, he didn't wake up to the sun announcing it's arrival. Instead he was standing in the inky blackness that he was becomingly irkingly familiar with. He sat there waiting for the blue box and his patience seemed to pay off when suddenly a blue box appeared.

 **[We need to talk.]**

Zelle raised an eyebrow. It appears his assumptions were correct. This system or whatever it is, is conscious. These little ventures were more than freaky realistic dreams then. At least based on his previous encounters.

"About?"

 **[Saving the future.]**

 **A/N: Scene! Well that was interesting. I'm trying my best to emulate each characters' personality but I'm sure I mess up here and there which is fine honestly. Anyway, let me know what can be improved, what you like, and dislike. And please be critical and not just say you disliked or liked it. That helps nobody. Anyways, see you in the next chapter!**


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